Effect of gas pressure on the quality-factor of single-crystal diamond micro cantilevers

Single-crystal diamond (SCD) is a prominent semiconductor material due to its superior mechanical and physical properties. From the viewpoint of practical application, a low vacuum or atmospheric environment are preferred. Here we systematically investigated the effect of ambient gas pressure on the quality-factor (Q-factor) of SCD micro cantilevers, and analyzed the disparate energy dissipation mechanisms. The Q-factor around 7500 was found to be almost stable for ambient pressure <10 Pa, then decreased sharply by about three orders of magnitude with the pressure increasing up to 105 Pa gradually. The ambient pressure ranging from 10-3 to 105 Pa can be defined as intrinsic, molecular, and viscous regimes by Knudsen number. We found that the Q-factors of the SCD cantilevers can be well described by the analytical models corresponding to the three regimes.

Automated summary

In this study, we investigated the effect of ambient gas pressure on the quality factor of single-crystal diamond micro cantilevers. The results show that the quality factor remains stable at low pressures but decreases significantly as the pressure increases.