Anchor loss simulation in resonators

Surface-micromachined resonators and filters are attractive for many RF applications. While existing simulation tools allow designers to compute resonant frequencies, few tools provide estimates of the damping in these devices. This paper reports on a new tool that allows designers, for the first time, to compute anchor losses in high-frequency resonators and account for sub-surface scatterers. By exercising the tool on a family of radially driven disk resonators, we show that the anchor loss mechanism for this class of devices involves a parasitic mixed-mode bending action that pumps energy into the substrate. Further, using the tool, we predict a large variation in resonator quality depending upon film thickness. Our simulation shows that the source of this variation is a complex radial-to-bending motion interaction, which we visualize with a root-locus diagram. We experimentally verify this predicted sensitivity using poly-SiGe disk resonators having Q's ranging from 200 to 54,000.