Molecular dynamics simulation of squeeze-film damping effect on nano resonators in the free molecular regime

In this paper, the squeeze-film damping effect on the performance of nanoresonators in the free molecular regime is studied by Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation using a Lennard-Jones potential for intermolecular interactions. The variation of the quality factor (Q-factor) of the nanoresonator with some characteristic parameters for squeeze-film damping is investigated. By comparing the results of the MD simulation and the existing analytical model it is found that the consideration of gas molecule collisions and diffusive and inelastic collisions between gas molecules and the resonator structure is essential to accurately predict the squeeze-film damping effect on the peformance of the nanoresonator. Such effects are excluded in the existing analytical model which has been evidenced as an overestimation on the performance of resonators according to experimental observations. Therefore, the MD simulation in this work might be very helpful for characterizing the performance and the design of nanoscale resonators with the consideration of the squeeze-film damping effect. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.