Low jitter thin-film piezoelectric-on-substrate oscillators

In this work, lateral-extensional thin-film piezoelectricon-substrate (TPoS) resonators, fabricated on both silicon and diamond, are driven beyond their bifurcation point in order to study the maximum allowable energy density before the resonator fractures. A method is presented to measure the stored energy of the resonator at different drive levels. The average measured critical energy density of the resonator (the stored energy at bifurcation) on silicon substrate is ~5.2×10 5 J/m 3 for a specific resonator design while it is ~2.7×10 5 J/m 3 for a similar device fabricated on ultrananocrystalline diamond. On the other hand, the resonator on diamond withstands energy densities more than 2 times larger than the resonator on silicon before devices fracture and fail mechanically.

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“…Preliminary results show that the oscillator noise continues to improve even in the resonator's nonlinear range of operation [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Recently, stable oscillators have been reported that drive the resonator into the nonlinear operation range [1,2]. Preliminary results show that the oscillator noise continues to improve even in the resonator's nonlinear range of operation [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fracture limit in thin-film piezoelectric-on-substrate resonators: Silicon VS. diamond

Fatemi

Abdolvand

2013

2013 IEEE 26th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS)

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“…MEMS resonators can be forced into the nonlinear elastic regime when sufficiently high power is applied to the device structure, creating regions of high energy density [1], [10], [18], [19]. Intrinsic nonlinearities are dependent on effective acoustic velocity, stiffness coefficients, and propagation of the acoustic wave within the device, while induced nonlinearities may arise due to temperature, force, pressure, acceleration, and vibration, among other sources [5].…”

Section: Nonlinearity Of Mems Resonatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Empirical Phase-Noise Model for MEMS Oscillators Operating in Nonlinear Regime

Pardo

Sorenson

Ayazi

2012

IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I

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Nonlinearity of a silicon resonator can lead to improved phase-noise performance in an oscillator when the phase shift of the sustaining amplifier forces the operating point to a steeper phase-frequency slope. As a result, phase modulation on the oscillator frequency is minimized because the resonator behaves as a high-order phase filter. The effect of the increased filtering translates into phase-noise shaping that reflects superior overall performance. Nonlinear effects in MEMS oscillators can be induced via sufficient driving power, generating low-frequency nonwhite noise processes that need to be considered in a phase-noise description. Since the phase-frequency response is not symmetric for a nonlinear detuned resonator, an empirical model based on power series is proposed to describe its effect in the noise sources and to account for the observed higher effective quality factor of the oscillator, the reduction in the corner frequency, and elevated levels of flicker noise very close-to-carrier. The applicability of the presented phase-noise model is shown for three piezoelectric MEMS oscillators, producing a relative fitting error below 1% in all cases.

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“…Many researchers and companies have presented high-performance MEMS-based oscillators so far [1,2]. In the past, our group has shown that thin-film piezoelectric-on-substrate (TPoS) MEMS resonators can yield superior power handling and Q (in air) due to the excellent power density and low acoustic loss of their silicon resonant body [3,4]. Such advantages make TPoS resonators as great candidates to be employed in low-noise oscillator circuits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Passive tuning in lateral-mode thin-film piezoelectric oscillators

Shahmohammadi

Dikbas

Harrington

et al. 2011

2011 Joint Conference of the IEEE International Frequency Control and the European Frequency and Time Forum (FCS) Proceedings

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In this paper, for the first time frequency tuning in lateral-mode thin-film piezoelectric resonators is demonstrated through varying the termination load connected to an isolated tuning port. The dependency of frequency tuning on the design features of the resonator is studied as well. More than 4300ppm tuning range in a thin-film piezoelectric-on-silicon (TPoS) resonator and more than 9000ppm tuning range in a pure piezoelectric resonator is achieved at ~29.5MHz and ~31.5MHz respectively. Also, an oscillator tuning range of more than 2700ppm is reported which shows a great potential for temperature compensated oscillators.

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Low jitter thin-film piezoelectric-on-substrate oscillators

Cited by 10 publications

References 7 publications

Fracture limit in thin-film piezoelectric-on-substrate resonators: Silicon VS. diamond

Fracture limit in thin-film piezoelectric-on-substrate resonators: Silicon VS. diamond

An Empirical Phase-Noise Model for MEMS Oscillators Operating in Nonlinear Regime

Passive tuning in lateral-mode thin-film piezoelectric oscillators

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