Mechanically temperature-compensated flexural-mode micromechanical resonators

An IC-compatible, high frequency (HF), lateral micromechanical resonator supported by a mechanical structure designed to introduce stresses that counteract temperature-induced frequency shifts, has been demonstrated at 10 MHz with a much-reduced temperature coefficient of -2.5 ppm//spl deg/C and a Q of greater than 10,000. These values constitute substantial improvements over the -17 ppm//spl deg/C and 3,000 posted by previous clamped-clamped beam vertical resonators in this frequency range, and represent significant strides towards reducing the thermal dependence of micromechanical resonators, possibly to the point where such devices can be used in on-chip high-and reference oscillator applications without the need for electronic temperature compensation.