Abstract Cubic SiC cantilever resonators designed for electrothermal actuation are presented. Metal electrodes with both open circuit and short circuit designs have been deposited and patterned on top of the 3C–SiC cantilevers. Pt electrodes on single crystal 3C–SiC cantilevers and NiCr electrodes on poly-crystalline 3C–SiC cantilevers have both been fabricated and tested in order to investigate the material property effect on the performance of the devices. An analytical model has been developed to understand the electrical power distribution in the cantilevers for the different material systems as well as the different metal terminations. Electrothermal actuation of resonance has been successfully achieved in all the fabricated cantilevers. The dynamic performance of the cantilever resonators has been systematically studied including resonance frequencies, amplitude response with voltage and actuation efficiencies. During the discussion of these results, the mechanism of the electrothermal actuation in these devices has been identified which allows actuation frequencies up to 100 MHz to be possible.