A 12 MHz micromechanical bulk acoustic mode oscillator

Abstract We demonstrate a bulk acoustic mode silicon micromechanical resonator with the first eigen frequency at 12 MHz and the quality factor 180 000. Electrostatic coupling to the mechanical motion is shown to be feasible using a high bias voltage across a narrow gap. By using a low-noise preamplifier to detect the resonance, a high spectral purity oscillator is demonstrated (phase noise less than −115 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz offset from the carrier). By analyzing the constructed prototype oscillator, we discuss in detail the central performance limitations of using silicon micromechanics in oscillator applications.

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