Characterization of AlN in MEMS: Synergistic use of dynamic testing, static profilometry, and an enhanced reduced-order model

This work presents a method for the characterization of piezoelectric MEMS by combining dynamic and static testing with an advanced analytical model. The proposed identification procedure effectively determines the piezoelectric constant through static measurements, while dynamic actuation experiments are employed to extract the dielectric constant and the quality factor. The advanced analytical model is versatile, allowing the methodology to be applied seamlessly to the analysis of both piezoelectric beams and plates. In this study, the procedure is applied to a MEMS cantilever plate equipped with a layer of AlN. The results validate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, showing strong agreement with values obtained from other approaches in the literature. • A new method for the experimental characterization of piezoelectric MEMS is proposed. • The method combines dynamic and static testing to obtain constitutive parameters. • The approach is based on an advanced analytical model of piezoelectric plates. • The proposed approach is validated on a MEMS piezoelectric cantilever with AlN layer.