Use of a single multiplexed CMOS oscillator as direct frequency read-out for an array of eight AlN Contour-Mode NEMS Resonant Sensors

Abstract

Gianluca; , "Use of a single multiplexed CMOS oscillator as direct frequency read-out for an array of eight AlN Contour-Mode NEMS Resonant Sensors," Sensors, 2010 IEEE , vol., no., pp.2666-2670, 1-4 Nov. 2010 ©2010 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. This paper reports on the first demonstration of a single multiplexed CMOS oscillator circuit employed as direct frequency readout for an array of 8 nanoscaled aluminum nitride Contour-Mode Resonant Sensors (CMR-S). In this first prototype 8 thin-film (250 nm) AlN CMR-S operating at 186 MHz were fabricated on the same chip and simultaneously wire-bonded to a Pierce-like oscillator circuit (fabricated in the ON Semiconductor 0.5 µm CMOS process) by means of 8 CMOS transmission gates addressed via a 3 bit on-chip decoder. The 8 CMR-S were simultaneously exposed to different concentrations of methanol (0.1-1% of the saturated vapor pressure) and their response was monitored in a time-multiplexed mode. Frequency shifts of 300 Hz corresponding to changes of mass per unit area of 7 ag/µm 2 were experimentally detected. Values of phase noise derived Allan deviation as low as 0.9 Hz were measured. Such Allan deviation translates in an estimated limit of detection of 21 zg/µm 2 . Disciplines Engineering | Engineering Science and Materials CommentsSuggested Citation: Rinaldi, Matteo; Zuniga, Chiara; Duick, Brandon; Piazza, Gianluca; , "Use of a single multiplexed CMOS oscillator as direct frequency read-out for an array of eight AlN Contour-Mode NEMS Resonant Sensors," Sensors, 2010 IEEE , vol., no., pp.2666-2670, 1-4 Nov. 2010. ©2010 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.

Power-Efficient Oscillator-Based Readout Circuit for Multichannel Resonant Volatile Sensors

“…Table I shows a comparison with published state-of-the-art volatile detection systems. As compared to [12], [13], this system, achieves a lower theoretical LoD for ethanol 2.2 ppm with three-sigma confidence level. This LoD was estimated from (3) based on the measurements of the frequency stability of the oscillator (Allan deviation) and the sensitivity of the PMMA-coated resonator to ethanol.…”

“…Early examples of such VOC detection systems include thermo-mechanically actuated cantilever sensors interfaced by low-noise differential readouts suited for low motional resonator impedance [12]. For RF-MEMS contour mode resonators operating at higher frequency, single stage amplifiers are implemented where a two-chip approach Pierce-oscillator is proposed, which combines good frequency detection and low power [13]. More recently, doubly-clamped high aspect ratio resonators with backside polymer coatings were demonstrated to be highly sensitive to low concentrations of volatile compounds [14].…”

Effects of volume and frequency scaling in AlN contour mode NEMS resonators on oscillator phase noise

“…The AlN nano-CMR-S were fabricated with a 3 mask fabrication process analogue to the one reported in [21] while the design of CMOS multiplexed oscillator circuit is described in [17,26]. Briefly, the CMOS multiplexed oscillator is implemented by means of an inverter amplifier biased in its active region (Figure 2).…”

“…In fact, this technology enables the fabrication of ultrasensitive nanoscaled devices that can be efficiently actuated and sensed piezoelectrically directly on chip [15,16]. The capability of this technology to maintain high Q and high coupling, k t 2 , despite the device volume reduction has been demonstrated [15,16] and it represented the enabling feature for the demonstration of individual sensors [15,16] and sensor arrays [17,18], connected to compact, low power and low noise CMOS oscillator circuits for direct frequency readout.…”

Pico-Watts Range Uncooled Infrared Detector Based on a Freestanding Piezoelectric Resonant Microplate With Nanoscale Metal Anchors

“…The schematic illustration of the CMOS amplifier is shown in Figure 2: the circuit consists of a Pierce oscillator implemented by a CMOS inverting amplifier and a 50 Ω buffer stage. The design of the CMOS circuit is fully described in [9,10]. The AlN resonant uncooled thermal detector was fabricated using a 4-mask post-CMOS compatible microfabrication process [11], while the CMOS circuit was taped out in the ON Semiconductor 0.5 µm CMOS process.…”