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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Fabrication and Characterization of High-Q Silicon Nitride Membrane Resonators
Published on: August 8, 2025
High-Q nanomechanics via destructive interference of elastic waves
I Wilson-Rae1, R A Barton, S S Verbridge
1Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany. ignacio.wilson-rae@ph.tum.de
Abstract:
Mechanical dissipation poses a ubiquitous challenge to the performance of nanomechanical devices. Here we analyze the support-induced dissipation of high-stress nanomechanical resonators. We develop a model for this loss mechanism and test it on Si(3)N(4) membranes with circular and square geometries. The measured Q values of different harmonics present a nonmonotonic behavior which is successfully explained. For azimuthal harmonics of the circular geometry we predict that destructive interference of the radiated waves leads to an exponential suppression of the clamping loss in the harmonic index. Our model can also be applied to graphene drums under high tension.
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