Mechanical and thermal relaxation times are of utmost importance in determining the thermal quality of micro- and nano-resonators. The interplay between mechanical and thermal activity governs energy dissipation in these resonators. In a recent paper, an analytical thermal model was developed to incorporate mechanical and thermal relaxation times, thereby increasing the quality factor under mechanical damage, while accounting for static prestress in a micro-viscothermoelastic resonator. The effects of the relaxation time parameters and static prestress on the thermal quality factor have been addressed. This model assumes that static prestress can serve as a tuning knob for significant improvements in thermal efficiency variables. The mechanical and thermal relaxation times, isothermal frequency, and mechanical damage parameter have substantial effects on the resonator’s thermal quality factor.
Hamdy M. Youssef (Thu,) studied this question.