High-Q and CMOS compatible single crystal silicon cantilever with separated on-chip piezoelectric actuator for ultra-sensitive mass detection

A CMOS compatible single-crystal silicon cantilever with on-chip piezoelectric PZT actuator was developed for ultra-sensitive mass detection. Excellent Q-factor of 1113, which is several times higher than latest reported Q-factor of integrated micro cantilevers, was sucessfully achieved by seperating the piezoelectric actuator from the resonant structure to reduce intrinsic energy dissipation in PZT film. A piezoresistive Wheatstone-bridge gauge was integrated to detect the resonant frequency of the cantilever for better impedence matching with electric circuits. The proposed structure exhibits potential applications in parallel sensor system or networked sensor technology with sub-femtogram level resolution.