Committee: 

Dr. Ayazi, Advisor       

Dr. Bhatti, Chair

Dr. Brand

Abstract: The objective of this proposal is to investigate and develop novel frequency control techniques based on stiffness trimming for high quality factor MEMS resonant sensors. In a first effort, energy confinement via out-of-plane curvature discontinuities have been investigated to isolate the vibrating structure from its lossy anchor. In a second and more general effort, which is at the heart of this research, pulsed laser stiffness trimming (PLST) of Germanium-loaded Single Crystal Silicon resonators has been explored. The main result is that PLST can shift frequencies with record-high resolution while imparting only a negligible impact on high Q resonators.