High quality factor nanocrystalline diamond micromechanical resonators limited by thermoelastic damping
We demonstrate high quality factor thin-film nanocrystalline diamond micromechanical resonators with quality factors limited by thermoelastic damping. Cantilevers, single-anchored and double-anchored double-ended tuning forks, were fabricated from 2.5 μm thick in-situ boron doped nanocrystalline diamond films deposited using hot filament chemical vapor deposition. Thermal conductivity measured by time-domain thermoreflectance resulted in 24 ± 3 W m{sup −1} K{sup −1} for heat transport through the thickness of the diamond film. The resonant frequencies of the fabricated resonators were 46 kHz–8 MHz and showed a maximum measured Q ≈ 86 000 at f{sub n} = 46.849 kHz. The measured Q-factors are shown to be in good agreement with the limit imposed by thermoelastic dissipation calculated using the measured thermal conductivity. The mechanical properties extracted from resonant frequency measurements indicate a Young's elastic modulus of ≈788 GPa, close to that of microcrystalline diamond.