Method for temperature compensation in MEMS resonators with isolated regions of distinct material

Abstract

MEMS resonators containing a first material and a second material to tailor the resonator's temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF). The first material has a different Young's modulus temperature coefficient than the second material. In one embodiment, the first material has a negative Young's modulus temperature coefficient and the second material has a positive Young's modulus temperature coefficient. In one such embodiment, the first material is a semiconductor and the second material is a dielectric. In a further embodiment, the quantity and location of the second material in the resonator is tailored to meet the resonator TCF specifications for a particular application. In an embodiment, the second material is isolated to a region of the resonator proximate to a point of maximum stress within the resonator. In a particular embodiment, the resonator includes a first material with a trench containing the second material. In a specific embodiment, the shape, dimensions, location and arrangement of a second material comprising silicon dioxide is tailored so that the resonator comprising a first material of SiGe will have a TCF of a much lower magnitude than that of either a homogeneous SiGe or homogeneous silicon dioxide resonator.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.