Abdelaal, YaraLiffredo, MarcoVillanueva, Luis Guillermo2025-09-082025-09-082025-09-052025-08-3110.3390/s25175370https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/253841Suspended microchannel resonators (SMRs) are powerful tools for mass, density, and viscosity sensing. Among various transduction methods, full piezoelectric transduction offers key advantages, including on-chip integration, low energy dissipation, and linear response. This work explores sub-200 nm Al0.6Sc0.4N thin films for SMR transduction, benchmarking them against their well-established AlN predecessor. By integrating the piezoelectric stack into low-stress silicon nitride (ls-SiNx) beam resonators, we investigate the impact of bottom electrode design, photoresist removal prior to deposition, and deposition bias on film quality. Characterization includes X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), d31 piezoelectric coefficient, relative dielectric permittivity, and breakdown field measurements. Results illustrate the impacts of the studied parameters and demonstrate a fourfold increase in d31, compared to AlN, confirming the strong potential of Al0.6Sc0.4N for high-performance SMR transduction.ensuspended microchannel resonatorpiezoelectric transductionthin film characterizationtext::journal::journal article::research article