  A high quality factor (Q-factor) piezoelectric lead zirconat titanate (PZT)
actuated single crystal silicon cantilever was proposed in this paper for
resonant based ultra-sensitive mass detection. Energy dissipation from
intrinsic mechanical loss of the PZT film was successfully compressed by
separating the PZT actuator from resonant structure. Excellent Q-factor, which
is several times larger than conventional PZT cantilever, was achieved under
both atmospheric pressure and reduced pressures. For a 30 micrometer-wide 100
micrometer-long cantilever, Q-factor was measured as high as 1113 and 7279
under the pressure of 101.2 KPa and 35 Pa, respectively. Moreover, it was found
that high-mode vibration can be realized by the cantilever for the pursuit of
great Q-factor, while support loss became significant because of the increased
vibration amplitude at the actuation point. An optimized structure using
node-point actuation was suggested then to suppress corresponding energy
dissipation.
