Performance of an AuPd micromechanical resonator as a temperature sensor

In this work we study the sensitivity of the primary resonance of an electrically excited microresonator for the possible usage of a temperature sensor. We find a relatively high normalized responsivity factor R-f = vertical bar T/f df/dT vertical bar = 0.37 with a quality factor of similar to 10(5). To understand this outcome we perform a theoretical analysis based on experimental observation. We find that the dominant contribution to the responsivity comes from the temperature dependence of the tension in the beam. Subsequently, R-f is found to be inversely proportional to the initial tension. Corresponding to a particular temperature, the tension can be increased by applying a bias voltage. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3431614]