We report the machining of doubly-clamped SiCN nanomechanical resonators as narrow as 16 nm and lengths of up to 10 μm with a yield approaching 100%. The resonators were actuated using a piezoelectric disk, and their resonant response was detected using optical interferometry. Resonators with widths ranging from 16 to 375 nm and lengths from 10 to 50 μm were analyzed at room temperature at pressures ranging from 10 to 50 mTorr. Resonant frequencies in the 4–15 MHz range and quality factors in the 1000–7000 range were measured. We observed a significant decrease in resonant frequency with decreasing resonator width. The results of finite element analysis (FEA) show that this width dependence is mainly due to the resonators vibrating in the horizontal rather than vertical direction. At widths below 50 nm the comparison of experimental and FEA data suggest a gradual tensile stress reduction in the resonators as their width is reduced. Material softening is the most likely cause of this stress reduction. Additionally, the resonant behavior of 16, 55, and 375 nm wide devices was studied as a function of ambient pressure in the 10−5–10 Torr range. Resonance quality becomes dominated by gas damping effects at pressures above a threshold determined by the intrinsic Q-factor of the resonator. The intrinsic Q-factor tended to decrease with decreasing resonator width but was independent of length or resonant frequency. This suggests that surface-related mechanisms dominate the dissipation of energy in these devices.
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