Mechanically Corner-Coupled Square Microresonator Array for Reduced

Graduate Student
University of Michigan
ABSTRACT:
Substantial reductions in vibrating micromechanical resonator series motional resistance Rx have been attained by mechanically coupling and exciting a parallel array of corner-coupled polysilicon square plate resonators. Using this technique with five resonators, an effective Rx of 4.4 kOhm has been attained at 64 MHz, which is more than 4.8X smaller than the 21.3 kOhm exhibited by a stand-alone transverse-mode square resonator, and all this achieved while still maintaining an effective Q >9,000. This method for Rx-reduction is superior to methods based on brute force scaling of electrode-to-resonator gaps or DC-bias increases, because it allows a reduction in Rx without sacrificing linearity, and thereby breaks the Rx versus dynamic range trade-off often seen when scaling.

BIO:
Mustafa U. Demirci received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, in 1997 and the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, in 2000, where he is currently working toward the Ph.D. Degree. Since 1998, he has been a graduate research assistant in the Solid-State Electronics Laboratory, The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he was initially involved with the design, fabrication and testing of a micromechanical gyroscope, and then on micromechanical signal processors for wireless communication applications. His research interests include analog integrated-circuit design, RF MEMS and other microfabricaton technologies. He was a recipient of NATO Science Fellowship in 1997.