Fabrication of Suspended Piezoelectrically Transduced Resonators

The objective of this semester project is the fabrication of suspended piezoelectrically transduced resonators and to test and compare the quality of the piezoelectric layer using different processes and parameters. A functional fabrication process by lift-off has already been tested before and a different process by ion beam etching was investigated in this project. Some changes in parameters such as temperatures of deposition and material of the seeding layer were investigated too. Another point of the project was to ensure that no fence-like structures are formed during the resonators’ fabrication that could short circuit them. These fences arise when the resist sidewalls are coated with conductive material during for example a deposition procedure for a lift-off or a redeposition following a physical etching procedure.