Efficient electrical transduction of all-silicon contour mode micromechanical resonators

基於全矽輪廓模式的高效電傳感微機電諧振器

Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis

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Author(s)

  • Yuanjie XU

Related Research Unit(s)

Detail(s)

Awarding Institution
Supervisors/Advisors
Award date14 Feb 2014

Abstract

Micromechanical resonators are fundamental building blocks functioning as timing or frequency references in low-power, portable applications due to their small form factor and easier path to integration with integrated circuit fabrication technologies. However, towards more demanding and high-end applications, a number of technical bottlenecks are still being addressed. One of these aspects, which forms the focus of this thesis, is to enhance the output signal to input interference (technically known as parasitic feedthrough) ratio in pure-silicon electromechanical resonators. In short, electrical feedthrough should be reduced while the output signal should be boosted at the same time. Two approaches for feedthrough suppression, which are transferrable to most generic vibration mode shapes, have been proposed in this work: a) passive differential input method and b) balanced differential input and output configuration for piezoresistive resonators. The passive differential input approach addresses the feedthrough problem on the package level for the first time. Although this compact, space-saving on-chip design was demonstrated for a square-plate contour mode resonator in this thesis, the idea can be extended to most generic mode shapes for fast turnaround prototyping. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by a ~40dB reduction in electrical feedthrough. The balanced differential input and output configuration described in this thesis on the other hand addresses the issue of feedthrough at the device level. It is shown that this provides a feedthrough suppression of 52dB. The above methods in themselves demonstrate the capability of reducing undesirable feedthrough by substantial degrees. But these methods also have the flexibility that allows for applicability to symmetric modes; modes associated with more efficient electromechanical transduction methods towards higher frequency like piezoresistive sensing. Hence the methods reduce feedthrough as well as allow boosting of output signals. Given previously reported enhancements in electromechanical transduction afforded by piezoresistive over capacitive sensing, a semi-analytical model has been developed in this thesis to accurately predict and track the transduction behavior of piezoresistive resonators. This thesis also explores the effect of anchor design and related anchor loss on the efficiency of piezoresistive transduction. It is revealed for the first time that the two are not mutually opposed. Experimental results instead show for the first time that optimal piezoresistive transduction efficiency as a function of a single design parameter in the anchors closely overlaps with the observed minima for anchor loss by the same anchor design parameter variation. Shifting the analysis paradigm from a single device towards arrays, the overall output signal can be boosted by summing individual currents from a number of resonators. This thesis explores the feasibility of mechanically coupled resonator arrays applied for the first time to very high quality factor resonators. For demonstration, arrays of 4 and 6 mechanically coupled square plate resonators were fabricated and electrically characterized. By careful design of the beam couplers, resonator units were grouped into two out-of-phase sections where fully differential configuration could be applied for feedthrough suppression. The experimental results show that using beam mechanical couplers does not result in higher attenuation of Q compared to square-to-square coupling, and the same level of high quality factor of a million could be maintained even after mechanical coupling.

    Research areas

  • Microelectromechanical systems, Electric resonators