Strain-enhanced high Q-factor GaN micro-electromechanical resonator

We report on a highly sensitive gallium nitride (GaN) micro-electromechanical (MEMS) resonator with a record quality factor (Q) exceeding 10⁵ at the high resonant frequency (f) of 911 kHz by the strain engineering for the GaN-on-Si structure. The f of the double-clamped GaN beam bridge is increased from 139 to 911 kHz when the tensile stress is increased to 640 MPa. Although it is usually regarded that the energy dissipation increases with increasing resonant frequency, an ultra-high Q-factor which is more than two orders of magnitude higher than those of the other reported GaN-based MEMS is obtained. The high Q-factor results from the large tensile stress which can be intentionally introduced and engineered in the GaN epitaxial layer by utilizing the lattice mismatch between GaN and Si, leading to the stored elastic energy and drastically decreasing the energy dissipation. The developed GaN MEMS is further demonstrated as a highly sensitive mass sensor with a resolution of 10⁻¹²g/s through detecting the microdroplet evaporation process. This work provides an avenue to improve the f×Q product of the MEMS through an internally strained structure.