Micro-electromechanical Resonators Having Electrically-trimmed Resonator Bodies Therein And Methods Of Fabricating Same Using Joule Heating

Abstract

A micro-electromechanical resonator includes an electrically-trimmed resonator body having at least one stiffness-enhanced semiconductor region therein containing metal-semiconductor lattice bonds. These metal-semiconductor lattice bonds may be gold-silicon lattice bonds and/or aluminum-silicon lattice bonds. A surface of the resonator body is mass-loaded with the metal, which may be provided by a plurality of spaced-apart metal islands. These metal islands may be aligned along a longitudinal axis of the resonator body. A size of the at least one stiffness-enhanced polycrystalline semiconductor region may be sufficient to yield an increase in resonant frequency of the resonator body relative to an otherwise equivalent resonator having a single crystal resonator body that is free of mass-loading by the metal.