Electro-thermal behaviour of Al/SiC clamped-clamped beams

The electro-thermal behaviour of silicon carbide (SiC) clamped-clamped (bridge) resonators actuated by aluminium (Al) electrodes has been studied. The structures with a beam length of 150 mu m, beam width of 60 mu m and thickness of 2 mu m have been fabricated and actuated electrothermally. The influence of two electrode configurations, slab and u-shaped, on the vibration magnitude at resonance has been compared. In addition, the effect of the electrode length on the vibration amplitude, maximum temperature and the temperature distribution in the beam has been investigated. The vibration amplitude is measured to be higher in the slab configuration compared to the one obtainable in the u-shaped layout and has been attributed to the fact that the slab layout induces a higher maximum and average temperature through the resonator hence enhancing the vibration amplitude of the beam. For both configurations examined, the electrode dimensions and location have been shown to play an important role in maximizing the vibration amplitude of the resonator.