On the Nonlinear Dynamics of Electromagnetically-Transduced Microresonators

This work investigates the dynamics of electromagnetically-actuated and sensed microresonators. These resonators consist of a silicon microcantilever and a current-carrying metallic wire loop. When placed in a permanent magnetic field, the devices vibrate due to Lorentz interactions. These vibrations, in turn, induce an electromotive force, which can be correlated to the dynamic response of the device. The nature of this transduction process results in an intrinsic coupling between the system’s input and output, which must be analytically and experimentally characterized to fully understand the dynamics of the devices of interest. This paper seeks to address this need through the modeling, analysis, and experimental characterization of the nonlinear response of electromagnetically-transduced microcantilevers in the presence of inductive and resistive coupling between the devices’ input and output ports. A complete understanding of this behavior should enable the application of electromagnetically-transduced microsystems in practical contexts ranging from resonant mass sensing to micromechanical signal processing.