Thermal radiation dominated heat transfer in nanomechanical silicon nitride drum resonators

TL;DR

This paper investigates heat transfer mechanisms in nanomechanical silicon nitride drum resonators, revealing that radiative heat loss significantly impacts their thermal response, which is crucial for optimizing thermal sensing and optomechanical applications.

Contribution

The study provides an analytical, computational, and experimental analysis showing radiative heat loss as a key factor in the thermal behavior of SiN drum resonators.

Findings

Radiative heat loss is significant in SiN resonators.

Thermal response is limited by radiative heat transfer.

Insights aid in designing better thermal sensors.

Abstract

Nanomechanical silicon nitride (SiN) drum resonators are currently employed in various fields of applications that arise from their unprecedented frequency response to physical quantities. In the present study, we investigate the thermal transport in nanomechanical SiN drum resonators by analytical modelling, computational simulations, and experiments for a better understanding of the underlying heat transfer mechanism causing the thermal frequency response. Our analysis indicates that radiative heat loss is a non-negligible heat transfer mechanism in nanomechanical SiN resonators limiting their thermal responsivity and response time. This finding is important for optimal resonator designs for thermal sensing applications as well as cavity optomechanics.