The fabrication and the electromechanical characterization of top-down silicon nanowire resonators for sensing applications are presented. To date, these are the smallest nanowires reported that can take advantage of compatibility with CMOS fabrication and co-integration. The nanowires are actuated through the electrostatic force and the resonances are transduced by the piezoresistive effect of second order. Their electromechanical characterization is performed with the FM demodulation technique, which has allowed the detection of resonances at frequencies as high as 94.7 MHz. In the future, silicon nanowires could serve as mass sensors with sensitivities as low as 1zg/√Hz.
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