Tuning CMOS-MEMS resonators with embedded heater

MEMS resonators cover a wide range of applications, such as oscillators, gyroscopes, biosensors, and gas sensors. Frequency tuning capability is required to compensate for frequency changes due to fabrication tolerances, ambient temperature variations, or to cover broad range of frequencies for frequency hopping and signal tracking. Passive, as well as active techniques have been reported in the literature to address this requirement. Passive methods, with up to 4% frequency tuning, may only be used to address fabrication inconsistencies. On the other hand, active methods are repeatable and reversible. Such methods used for temperature compensation present a promising potential for use in frequency hopping, and signal tracking applications. Table-1 shows reported MEMs resonators of previous works having low resonance frequency and limited frequency tuning in comparison with the resonators designed in this work (Goktas and Zaghloul, IEEE ED Letters, accepted).