Noise processes in nanomechanical resonators

Abstract

Nanomechanical resonators can be fabricated to achieve high natural resonance frequencies, approaching 1 GHz, with quality factors in excess of 10^(4). These resonators are candidates for use as highly selective rf filters and as precision on-chip clocks. Some fundamental and some nonfundamental noise processes will present limits to the performance of such resonators. These include thermomechanical noise, Nyquist-Johnson noise, and adsorption-desorption noise; other important noise sources include those due to thermal fluctuations and defect motion-induced noise. In this article, we develop a self-contained formalism for treating these noise sources, and use it to estimate the impact that these noise processes will have on the noise of a model nanoscale resonator, consisting of a doubly clamped beam of single-crystal Si with a natural resonance frequency of 1 GHz.