Characterization of Mass-Loaded Silicon Nitride On-Chip Resonators for Traceable Sensing of Low Amplitude Acceleration

Abstract

We report on the experimental characterization of a mass-loaded silicon nitride membrane-based resonator, which we investigate towards the development of accelerometers for small amplitude acceleration sensing at low frequencies. We experimentally demonstrate a ~1.1 ×10−6 kg proof mass system achieving a 17,950 mechanical quality factor for a 526 Hz natural resonance frequency, which compares favorably to other optically interrogated on-chip accelerometers [1]–[3]. The inferred acceleration noise floor of the device is currently limited by the displacement noise of the optical fiber displacement readout, yielding a noise amplitude spectral density of $1{{\mu g/}}\sqrt {{\text{Hz}}} $ at 10 Hz.