Effects of stochastic forces on the nonlinear behaviour of a silicon nitride membrane nanoelectromechanical resonator

Abstract In this work, we present the effects of stochastic force generated by white noise on the nonlinear dynamics of a circular silicon nitride membrane. By tuning the membrane to the Duffing nonlinear region, detected signals switching between low- and high-amplitudes have been observed. They are generated by noise-assisted random jumps between bistable states at room temperature and exhibit high sensitivity to the driving frequency. Through artificially heating different mechanical vibration modes by external input of white noise, the switching rate exhibits exponential dependence on the effective temperature and follows with Kramer‘s law. Furthermore, both the measured switching rate and activation energy exhibit sensitivity to the width of the hysteresis window in nonlinear response and the driving force, which is in qualitative agreement with the theoretical descriptions. Besides, white noise-induced hysteresis window squeezing and bifurcation point shifting have also been observed, which are attributed to the stochastic force modulation of the spring constant of the membrane. These studies are carried out in an all-electric operating scheme at room temperature, paving the way for the exploration of probability distribution-based functional elements that can be massively integrated on-chip.