Microfabrication of large-area circular high-stress silicon nitride membranes for optomechanical applications.

In view of the integration of membrane resonators with more complex MEMS structures, we developed a general fabrication procedure for circular shape SiNx membranes using Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE). Large area and high-stress SiN_x membranes were fabricated and used as optomechanical resonators in a Michelson interferometer, where Q values up to 1.3 × 10⁶ were measured at cryogenic temperatures, and in a Fabry-Pérot cavity, where an optical finesse up to 50000 has been observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]