A high frequency SiC nanobeam resonator with ultra-sensitivity

Nanomechanical resonator based on nanomaterials has great potential for high sensitive, high resolution and negligible energy consumed sensing devices. In this work, high frequency SiC nanobeam resonators with a diameter of ∼100 nm and with lengths of tens of micrometers were designed and demonstrated, which was produced based on the high quality monocrystal 3C-SiC nanowire material with high aspect ratio characteristics. The resonance behaviors of the nanobeam resonator was studied using an integrated mixing circuit measurement system with the pressure from 10−3 to 10−1 Torr. It was observed that the resonant frequency was up to 9.16 MHz, which was a distinguished essential feature for high sensitivity detection. The tunability of SiC nanobeam resonators was about 22%, which can be conveniently controlled by adjusting DC voltage on the gate. It was examined that the detection value of the SiC nanobeam resonator can be as low as zeptogram, which indicated its ultra-sensitive mass detection behaviors. The results show that the SiC nanobeam resonator has high resonant frequency, large tunability and high sensitivity, which is expected to be a high-performance device for biosensing and mechanical sensing.