Single Element Excitation and Detection of (Micro-)Mechanical Resonators

This paper describes a singleelement approach for the excitation and detection of the vibrational motion of (micro-) mechanical resonators. An equivalent electrical one-port network is derived for an electrostatically and a piezoelectrically driven resonator. In this way, the effect of the mechanical resonator is transformed into the electrical domain and can easily be accounted for in a circuit simulation. Further, a detection circuit, based on an (onchip) bridged design is proposed as a way to compensate for the parasitic parallel load of the one-port. A criterion is given for the accepted level of unbalance of the bridge if a minimal phase shift of 90" in the transfer characteristic around resonance is demanded.

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