Integrated MEMS Resonators

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "A:Physics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2021) | Viewed by 13365

Special Issue Editor

Department of Electrical Engineering, École de Technologie Supérieure, Montréal, QC H3C 1K3, Canada
Interests: analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits; integrated sensors; integration of MEMS with electronics; MEMS sensors and actuators; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS); micro-fabrication; radiofrequency integrated circuits (RFICs); resonant MEMS; sensor interface circuits; ultra-wideband impulse radio (IR-UWB)
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonators have evolved significantly over the last decade. New micro-fabrication processes, temperature compensation methods, Q-factor enhancement techniques, packaging processes and other research breakthroughs have made the performance of MEMS resonators come very close to that of quartz crystals. Moreover, research works have demonstrated the integration potential of MEMS resonators within integrated circuits, providing new system-level capabilities. This has brought forward unprecedented levels of integration for timing circuits or resonant sensors, for example. Whether it is for the creation of sensors, energy harvesters or timing circuits, research on MEMS resonators is advancing steadily towards pushing this important MEMS device towards market on many fronts. Notably, MEMS resonators are already commercialized in timing circuits, and many resonant sensors relying on MEMS resonators have been proposed.

Accordingly, this special issue invites academic and industrial researchers to share their innovative works in integrated MEMS resonators and on the systems they enable. Suitable topics include, but are not limited to:

  • MEMS Resonators
    • Design methodologies
    • Microfabrication processes
    • Packaging processes
    • Performance enhancement techniques (e.g., temperature compensation, Q-factor enhancement etc.)
    • Modeling
  • Integrated MEMS Resonators-based Systems
    • Resonant sensors
    • Timing systems
    • Filters
    • Resonant energy harvesting
    • Ultrasonic transducers

Prof. Dr. Frederic Nabki
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Integrated MEMS resonator-based systems
  • MEMS resonators
  • Resonant sensors
  • Resonant structures
  • MEMS-based timing circuits

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 8677 KiB  
Article
Design and Optimization of the Resonator in a Resonant Accelerometer Based on Mode and Frequency Analysis
by Yan Li, Biao Jin, Mengyu Zhao and Fuling Yang
Micromachines 2021, 12(5), 530; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12050530 - 07 May 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1748
Abstract
This study aims to develop methods to design and optimize the resonator in a resonant accelerometer based on mode and frequency analysis. First, according to the working principle of a resonant accelerometer, the resonator is divided into three parts: beam I, beam II, [...] Read more.
This study aims to develop methods to design and optimize the resonator in a resonant accelerometer based on mode and frequency analysis. First, according to the working principle of a resonant accelerometer, the resonator is divided into three parts: beam I, beam II, and beam III. Using Hamilton’s principle, the undamped dynamic control equation and the ordinary differential dynamic equation of the resonant beam are obtained. Moreover, the structural parameters of the accelerometer are designed and optimized by using resonator mode and frequency analysis, then using finite element simulation to verify it. Finally, 1 g acceleration tumbling experiments are built to verify the feasibility of the proposed design and optimization method. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed accelerometer has a sensitivity of 98 Hz/g, a resolution of 0.917 mg, and a bias stability of 1.323 mg/h. The research findings suggest that according to the resonator mode and frequency analysis, the values of the resonator structural parameters are determined so that the working mode of the resonator is far away from the interference mode and avoids resonance points effectively. The research results are expected to be beneficial for a practical resonant sensor design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated MEMS Resonators)
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19 pages, 3936 KiB  
Article
Control of Spring Softening and Hardening in the Squared Daisy
by Mathieu Gratuze, Abdul-Hafiz Alameh, Seyedfakhreddin Nabavi and Frederic Nabki
Micromachines 2021, 12(4), 448; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12040448 - 16 Apr 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2101
Abstract
Nonlinear, mechanical microelectromechanical system (MEMS) resonating structures exhibit large displacement and a relatively broad operating bandwidth. These unique features make them particularly of interest for the development of MEMS actuators and sensors. In this work, a mechanical MEMS structure allowing the designer to [...] Read more.
Nonlinear, mechanical microelectromechanical system (MEMS) resonating structures exhibit large displacement and a relatively broad operating bandwidth. These unique features make them particularly of interest for the development of MEMS actuators and sensors. In this work, a mechanical MEMS structure allowing the designer to determine the type of nonlinearity, that is, softening or hardening, based on its anchor scheme is presented. Effects of the excitation signal on the behavior of the proposed MEMS in the frequency domain are investigated. In this regard, a comprehensive experimental comparison among the nonlinear behaviors of softening and hardening has been conducted. To reduce the hysteresis effect to a minimum, an excitation approach, which is a pulsed sweep in frequency with a discrete resolution, is presented. The maximal velocity, quality factor, bandwidth, and resonant frequency of these two types of nonlinear MEMS resonators are compared under three different types of excitation. Finally, it is shown that the performance and characteristics extracted from nonlinear mechanical MEMS resonating structures are highly dependent on the excitation method. Hence, in the present case, the apparent performances of the MEMS resonator can increase by up to 150% or decrease by up to 21%, depending on the excitation approaches. This implies the necessity of a standardized testing methodology for nonlinear MEMS resonators for given end applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated MEMS Resonators)
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25 pages, 6361 KiB  
Article
Attitude and Heading Estimation for Indoor Positioning Based on the Adaptive Cubature Kalman Filter
by Jijun Geng, Linyuan Xia and Dongjin Wu
Micromachines 2021, 12(1), 79; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12010079 - 13 Jan 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2904
Abstract
The demands for indoor positioning in location-based services (LBS) and applications grow rapidly. It is beneficial for indoor positioning to combine attitude and heading information. Accurate attitude and heading estimation based on magnetic, angular rate, and gravity (MARG) sensors of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) [...] Read more.
The demands for indoor positioning in location-based services (LBS) and applications grow rapidly. It is beneficial for indoor positioning to combine attitude and heading information. Accurate attitude and heading estimation based on magnetic, angular rate, and gravity (MARG) sensors of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) has received increasing attention due to its high availability and independence. This paper proposes a quaternion-based adaptive cubature Kalman filter (ACKF) algorithm to estimate the attitude and heading based on smart phone-embedded MARG sensors. In this algorithm, the fading memory weighted method and the limited memory weighted method are used to adaptively correct the statistical characteristics of the nonlinear system and reduce the estimation bias of the filter. The latest step data is used as the memory window data of the limited memory weighted method. Moreover, for restraining the divergence, the filter innovation sequence is used to rectify the noise covariance measurements and system. Besides, an adaptive factor based on prediction residual construction is used to overcome the filter model error and the influence of abnormal disturbance. In the static test, compared with the Sage-Husa cubature Kalman filter (SHCKF), cubature Kalman filter (CKF), and extended Kalman filter (EKF), the mean absolute errors (MAE) of the heading pitch and roll calculated by the proposed algorithm decreased by 4–18%, 14–29%, and 61–77% respectively. In the dynamic test, compared with the above three filters, the MAE of the heading reduced by 1–8%, 2–18%, and 2–21%, and the mean of location errors decreased by 9–22%, 19–31%, and 32–54% respectively by using the proposed algorithm for three participants. Generally, the proposed algorithm can effectively improve the accuracy of heading. Moreover, it can also improve the accuracy of attitude under quasistatic conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated MEMS Resonators)
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18 pages, 6604 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Parametric and Subharmonic Excitation in Push-Pull Driven Disk Resonator Gyroscopes
by Kai Wu, Kuo Lu, Qingsong Li, Yongmeng Zhang, Ming Zhuo, Sheng Yu, Xuezhong Wu and Dingbang Xiao
Micromachines 2021, 12(1), 61; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12010061 - 06 Jan 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2266
Abstract
For micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) resonators, once the devices are fabricated and packaged, their intrinsic quality factors (Q) will be fixed and cannot be changed, which seriously limits the further improvement of the resonator’s performance. In this paper, parametric excitation is applied [...] Read more.
For micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) resonators, once the devices are fabricated and packaged, their intrinsic quality factors (Q) will be fixed and cannot be changed, which seriously limits the further improvement of the resonator’s performance. In this paper, parametric excitation is applied in a push-pull driven disk resonator gyroscope (DRG) to improve its sensitivity by an electrical pump, causing an arbitrary increase of the “effective Q”. However, due to the differential characteristics of the push-pull driving method, the traditional parametric excitation method is not applicable. As a result, two novel methods are proposed and experimentally carried out to achieve parametric excitation in the push-pull driven DRGs, resulting in a maximum “effective Q” of 2.24 × 106 in the experiment, about a 7.6 times improvement over the intrinsic Q. Besides, subharmonic excitation is also theoretically analyzed and experimentally characterized. The stability boundary of parametric excitation, defined by a threshold voltage, is theoretically predicted and verified by related experiments. It is demonstrated that, when keeping the gyroscope’s vibration at a constant amplitude, the fundamental frequency driving voltage will decrease with the increasing of the parametric voltage and will drop to zero at its threshold value. In this case, the gyroscope operates in a generalized parametric resonance condition, which is called subharmonic excitation. The novel parametric and subharmonic excitation theories displayed in this paper are proven to be efficient and tunable dynamical methods with great potential for adjusting the quality factor flexibly, which can be used to further enhance the resonator’s performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated MEMS Resonators)
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Review

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14 pages, 7035 KiB  
Review
Integrated Resonant Micro/Nano Gravimetric Sensors for Bio/Chemical Detection in Air and Liquid
by Hao Jia, Pengcheng Xu and Xinxin Li
Micromachines 2021, 12(6), 645; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12060645 - 31 May 2021
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3422
Abstract
Resonant micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) with on-chip integrated excitation and readout components, exhibit exquisite gravimetric sensitivities which have greatly advanced the bio/chemical sensor technologies in the past two decades. This paper reviews the development of integrated MEMS/NEMS resonators for bio/chemical sensing applications mainly in [...] Read more.
Resonant micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) with on-chip integrated excitation and readout components, exhibit exquisite gravimetric sensitivities which have greatly advanced the bio/chemical sensor technologies in the past two decades. This paper reviews the development of integrated MEMS/NEMS resonators for bio/chemical sensing applications mainly in air and liquid. Different vibrational modes (bending, torsional, in-plane, and extensional modes) have been exploited to enhance the quality (Q) factors and mass sensing performance in viscous media. Such resonant mass sensors have shown great potential in detecting many kinds of trace analytes in gas and liquid phases, such as chemical vapors, volatile organic compounds, pollutant gases, bacteria, biomarkers, and DNA. The integrated MEMS/NEMS mass sensors will continuously push the detection limit of trace bio/chemical molecules and bring a better understanding of gas/nanomaterial interaction and molecular binding mechanisms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated MEMS Resonators)
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