Abstract
This thesis reports the effects of chromium layers on the vibrational properties of silicon microengineered structures designed as pressure sensors. Both excitation and interrogation have been achieved by optical means. Particular attention has been paid to the optically induced vibrational amplitude, Q factor and phase angle between the motion of the resonator and the incident pulsed laser light used to excite the resonator. Two silicon structures have been investigated; bridges fabricated at Birmingham University and extensively characterised by researchers at Strathclyde University, and devices fabricated at STC Technology Ltd. in Harlow. For both structures the addition of chromium layers onto the surface has had the effect of increasing the value of the amplitude divided by the Q factor. This increase occurs after a layer of chromium of about 15nm thickness has already been deposited onto the silicon. It has also been found that the value of the Q factor of the resonators has decreased with the addition of chromium layers. The phase angle of the motion has also been found to be sensitive to the thickness of the chromium layer. This angle has been observed to increase from approximately zero for bare silicon to about 40° for a few hundred Angstroms, returning towards zero phase for chromium layers of comparable thickness to the silicon thickness.