Abstract
This paper highlights the design and analysis of a pierce oscillator circuit for CMOS MEMS surface acoustic wave resonators. The boosted pierce topology using two, three-stage cascode amplifiers provides sufficient gain to counteract the high insertion losses of − 65 dB at 1.3 GHz of the SAW resonator. For accurate prediction of the oscillator’s performance before fabrication, circuit design utilized touchstone S2P measurement results of the MEMS SAW resonator, which provides better results compared to the conventional method of using equivalent circuit simulations. This circuit was designed using Silterra’s 0.13 μm CMOS process. It has low power consumption of 1.52 mW with high voltage swing 0.10–0.99 V. All simulations were conducted using Cadence Design Systems and results indicate that phase noise of 92.63 dBc at 1 MHz.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bassiri-Gharb N (2008) Piezoelectric MEMS: materials and devices. In: Safari A, Akdogan EK (eds) Piezoelectric and acoustic materials for transducer applications. Springer Science & Business Media, Berlin. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-76540-2_20
Campanella H (2010) Acoustic wave and electromechanical resonators: concept to key applications (integrated microsystems). Artech House, Norwood, pp 1–364
Chengjie Z, Van Der Spiegel J, Piazza G (2010) 105-GHz CMOS oscillator based on lateral-field-excited piezoelectric AlN contour-mode MEMS resonators. Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control IEEE Trans 57(1):82–87
Chengjie Z, Van der Spiegel J, Piazza G (2011) Dual-mode resonator and switchless reconfigurable oscillator based on piezoelectric AlN MEMS technology. Electron Devices IEEE Trans 58(10):3599–3603
Enz CC, Kaiser A, Rai S, Otis B (2013) Low-power quadrature oscillator design using BAW resonators. In: MEMS-based circuits and systems for wireless communication. Springer US, pp 187–205
Gill GS, Prasad M (2016) Development of film bulk acoustic wave resonator: a review. Sens Lett 14(4):346–361
Gong S, Kuo NK, Piazza G (2012) GHz high- lateral overmoded bulk acoustic-wave resonators using epitaxial SiC thin film. J Microelectromech Syst 21(2):253–255. https://doi.org/10.1109/JMEMS.2011.2179017
Hashimoto K-Y, Omori T, Yamaguchi M (2009) Requirements for piezoelectric thin film applications to radio frequency acoustic wave devices. Ferroelectrics 380(1):73–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/00150190902873238
Karim J, Nordin AN (2016) Implementation of CMOS oscillator for CMOS SAW resonator. In: 2016 symposium on design, test, integration and packaging og MEMS and MOEMS, pp 7–11
Karim J, Nordin AN, Alam AZ (2012) Design of a pierce oscillator for CMOS SAW resonator. In: 2012 international conference on computer and communication engineering (ICCCE), pp 490–493
Lavasani HM, Abdolvand R, Ayazi F (2015) Single-resonator dual-frequency AIN-on-Si MEMS oscillators. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 62(5):802–813
Li M-H, Chen C-Y, Li C-S, Chin C-H, Chen C-C, Li S-S (2013) Foundry-CMOS integrated oscillator circuits based on ultra-low power ovenized CMOS-MEMS resonators. pp 475–478. https://doi.org/10.1109/IEDM.2013.6724654
Li M, Member S, Chen C, Li C, Member S (2015) A monolithic CMOS-MEMS oscillator based on an ultra-low-power ovenized micromechanical resonator. J Microelectromech Syst 24(2):360–372
Li M-H, Tseng K-J, Liu C-Y, Chen C-Y, Li S-S (2016) An 8V 50μW 1.2 MHz CMOS-MEMS oscillator, Frequency Control Symposium (IFCS), 2016 IEEE International. IEEE, pp 16–18. https://doi.org/10.1109/FCS.2016.7563591
Morkoç H (2008) Zinc oxide: fundamentals, materials and device technology. Wiley, New York, pp 1–76
Neculoiu D, Müller A, Deligeorgis G, Dinescu A, Stavrinidis A, Vasilache D et al (2009) AlN on silicon based surface acoustic wave resonators operating at 5 GHz. Electron Lett 45(23):1196–1197. https://doi.org/10.1049/el.2009.2520
Nordin AN, Zaghloul ME (2007) Modeling and fabrication of CMOS surface acoustic wave resonators. IEEE Trans Microw Theory Tech 55(5):992–1001. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2007.895408
Nordin AN, Zaghloul ME (2008) Design, implementation and characterization of temperature compensated SAW resonators in CMOS technology for RF oscillators. The George Washington University, Washington
Otis B (2002) The design and implementation of an ultra low power RF oscillator using micromachined resonators. Master of Science Plan II Berkeley Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, p 77
Rai SS, Otis BP (2008) A 600 #956; W BAW-tuned quadrature VCO using source degenerated coupling. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits 43(1):300–305
Ralib AAM, Nordin AN (2014) Silicon compatible acoustic wave resonators: design, fabrication and performance. IIUM Eng J 15(2). http://journals.iium.edu.my/ejournal/index.php/iiumej/article/view/437. Accessed 20 July 2016
Ralib AAM, Nordin AN, Zahirul Alam AHM, Hashim Uda (2014) Piezoelectric thin films for double electrode MEMS surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator. Microsyst Technol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-014-2319-0
Rinaldi M, Zuniga C, Zuo C, Piazza G (2010) Super-high-frequency two-port AlN contour-mode resonators for RF applications. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 57:38–45. https://doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2010.1376
Roy S et al (2016) Design of a MEMS-based oscillator using 180 nm CMOS technology. PLoS One 11(7):e0158954
Ruffieux D et al (2014) A versatile timing microsystem based on wafer-level packaged XTAL/BAW resonators with sub-W RTC mode and programmable HF clocks. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits 49(1):212–222
Salvia JC, Melamud R, Chandorkar SA, Lord SF, Kenny TW (2010) Real-time temperature compensation of MEMS oscillators using an integrated micro-oven and a phase-locked loop. Microelectromech Syst J 19(1):192–201
Sankaragomathi K et al (2013) A 220 dB FOM, 1.9 GHz oscillator using a phase noise reduction technique for high-Q oscillators. In: 2013 IEEE radio frequency integrated circuits symposium (RFIC). IEEE
Seth S, Wang S, Kenny T, Murmann B (2012) A-131-dBc/Hz, 20-MHz MEMS oscillator with a 6.9-mW, 69-kohm, gain-tunable CMOS TIA. In: 2012 Proceedings of the ESSCIRC (ESSCIRC), pp 249–252
Uranga A, Verd J, Barniol N (2015) CMOS–MEMS resonators: from devices to applications. Microelectron Eng 132:58–73
Yuan Q, Peng B, Luo W, Zhao J, Yang J, Yang F (2015) Frequency stability of RF oscillator with MEMS-based encapsulated resonator. In: 2015 transducers—2015 18th international conference on solid-state sensors, actuators and microsystems (TRANSDUCERS), pp 1969–1972
Zuo C, Spiegel JVD, Piazza G (2010) 1.05-GHz CMOS oscillator based on lateral- field-excited piezoelectric AlN contour- mode MEMS resonators. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 57(1):82–87
Acknowledgements
This research is funded by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education through IIUM—FRGS14-111-0352 and UiTM—FRGS/1/2015/TK04/UITM/02/19.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hamzah, M.H., Karim, J., Ralib, A.A.M. et al. Design and analysis of a boosted pierce oscillator using MEMS SAW resonators. Microsyst Technol 24, 587–594 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-017-3627-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-017-3627-y