Microelectromechanical resonator and method for fabrication
AssigneeSandia Corporation
InventorsJonathan W. Wittwer, Roy H. Olsson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method is disclosed for the robust fabrication of a microelectromechanical (MEM) resonator. In this method, a pattern of holes is formed in the resonator mass with the position, size and number of holes in the pattern being optimized to minimize an uncertainty Δf in the resonant frequency f0 of the MEM resonator due to manufacturing process variations (e.g. edge bias). A number of different types of MEM resonators are disclosed which can be formed using this method, including capacitively transduced Lamé, wineglass and extensional resonators, and piezoelectric length-extensional resonators.
Claims19
A microelectromechanical (MEM) resonator, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a mass having a plurality of holes therein and suspended above the substrate by at least one anchor to oscillate at a resonant frequency f0, with every hole in the mass having a location at substantially the same distance from a center of the mass, and with every hole in the mass having a hole size which is substantially identical, and with the hole location and the hole size being defined to compensate, at least in part, for an uncertainty Δf in the resonant frequency f0;
- a first set of electrodes located proximate to the mass to electrically stimulate the mass to oscillate at the resonant frequency f0;
- and
- a second set of electrodes located proximate to the mass to sense the oscillation at the resonant frequency f0.
A microelectromechanical (MEM) resonator comprising:
- a mass suspended above a substrate by at least one anchor and having a first set of holes which are all of a first size, and having a second set of holes which are all of a second size which is different from the first size, and with the sizes and locations of the first and second sets of holes being defined to provide an oscillation of the mass at a resonant frequency f0 which is substantially independent of an edge bias in the MEM resonator;
- a first set of electrodes located on the substrate to electrically stimulate the oscillation of the mass at the resonant frequency f0;
- and
- a second set of electrodes located on the substrate to sense the oscillation at the resonant frequency f0.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.