Application of Mass Transport in Solid Electrolyte Films in Tunable Microelectromechanical Resonators

This paper reports on Ag-Ge-Se solid electrolyte films which can support the rapid net displacement of metal mass from a silver source to a target location within a MEMS device at low voltage and current. This displacement of mass can be used to alter material parameters and we have demonstrated a tunable MEMS resonator using this principle. In this application, the electrodeposited mass is made to form on a suspended polycrystalline silicon beam to change both its vibrating mass and stiffness, without significantly degrading the Q-factor. The paper includes some of the initial results from the resonator work and places particular emphasis on the solid state electrodeposition process and its relationship to the electrolyte composition.