Frequency-Dependent Piezoresistive Effect In Top-Down Fabricated Gold Nanoresistors

Piezoresistive strain gauges allow for electronic readout of mechanical deformations with high fidelity. As piezoresistive strain gauges are aggressively being scaled down for applications in nanotechnology, it has become critical to investigate their physical attributes at different limits. Here, we describe an experimental approach for studying the piezoresistive gauge factor of a gold thin-film nanoresistor as a function of frequency. The nanoresistor is fabricated lithographically near the anchor of a nanomechanical doubly clamped beam resonator. As the resonator is driven to resonance in one of its normal modes, the nanoresistor is exposed to frequency-dependent strains of epsilon less than or similar to 10(-5) in the 4-36 MHz range. We calibrate the strain using optical interferometry and measure the resistance changes using a radio frequency mix-down technique. The piezoresistive gauge factor. of our lithographic gold nanoresistors is gamma approximate to 3.6 at 4 MHz, in agreement with comparable macroscopic thin metal film resistors in previous works. However, our. values increase monotonically with frequency and reach gamma approximate to 15 at 36 MHz. We discuss possible physics that may give rise to this unexpected frequency dependence.