Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T13:39:18.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Thermoelastic Dissipation in Composite Silicon MEMS Resonators with Thin Film Silicon Dioxide Coating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2012

Shirin Ghaffari
Affiliation:
Mechanical Engineering Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
Thomas W. Kenny
Affiliation:
Mechanical Engineering Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
Get access

Abstract

We analyze thermoelastic dissipation in composite silicon MEMS resonators that exhibit multiple mechanical and thermal modes with complex dynamics. Silicon resonators that are coated with thin films of silicon dioxide can have near-zero temperature coefficients of frequency, making them attractive for use as precision time references. The quality factor of MEMS resonators can be dominated by thermoelastic dissipation (TED), which is triggered by the relaxation of mechanically induced temperature gradients. Recently, Chandorkar et al. (2009) have shown an expression of TED based on entropy generation as a weighted sum of the modal solutions of the three-dimensional heat transfer equation. This expression was obtained for weak coupling between mechanical and thermal dynamics. Applying this same technique to a fully coupled solution to the dynamics, we show that the TED contribution of the dominant thermal modes can be inhibited in the presence of a thin silicon dioxide film. Reduction of the contribution from the dominant thermal mode is shown with increasing oxide. We studied the effects of varying oxide film thickness and beam length. The quality factor was simulated for each unique case and compared to multimode energy dissipation. Our results suggest with some variability, thin film oxide coating affects the thermal relaxation of the composite resonator in the direction of lower TED and increased quality factor.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baborowski, J., Bourgeois, C., Pezous, A., Muller, C., and Dubios, M.-A., in Proc. IEEE Int. Freq. Control Symp., 12101213 (2007).Google Scholar
Pang, W., Ruby, R.C., Parker, R., Fisher, P.W., Unkrich, M.A., Larson, J.D., IEEE Electron Device Letters 29(4), (2008).Google Scholar
Melamud, R., Chandorkar, S.A., Kim, B., Lee, H.K., Salvia, J.C., Bahl, G., Hopcroft, M.A., and Kenny, T.W., J. Microelectromech. Syst. 18(6), (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoen, F., Nawaz, M., Bever, T., Gruenberger, R., Raberg, W., Weber, W., Winkler, B., and Weigel, R., in Proc. IEEE Int. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 884887 (2009)Google Scholar
Ho, G.K., Sundaresan, K., Pourkamali, S., and Ayazi, F., J. Microelectromech Syst., 19(3), (2010).Google Scholar
Chandorkar, S.A., Candler, R. N., Duwel, A, Melamud, R., Agarwal, M., Goodson, K.E., and Kenny, T.W., J. Appl. Phys. 105, 043505 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, J.E. and Kinra, V.K., Int. J. Solid Struct. 34, 1075–92 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duwel, A., Candler, R.N., Kenny, T.W., and Varghese, M., J. Microelectromech. Syst. 15(6), (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopcroft, M.A., Nix, W.D., and Kenny, T.W., J. Microelectromech. Syst., 19(2), (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COMSOL Multiphysics, ver. 4.2a, Stockholm, Sweden: COMSOL AB, (2011).Google Scholar
Candler, R.N., Duwel, A., Varghese, M., Chandorkar, S.A., Hopcroft, M.A., Park, W.-T., Kim, B., Yama, G., Partridge, A., Lutz, M., and Kenny, T.W., J. Microelectromech. Syst., 15(4) (2006).Google Scholar