Stability of a micromechanical pull-in voltage reference

Author

Rocha, Luis A. ; Cretu, Edmond ; Wolffenbuttel, Reinoud F.

Author_Institution

Dept. for Microelectron., Delft Univ. of Technol., Netherlands

Volume

52

Issue

2

fYear

2003

fDate

4/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

457

Lastpage

460

Abstract

The reproducibility over temperature and time of the pull-in voltage of micromechanical structures has been analyzed and verified using fabricated devices in silicon. The pull-in structures are intended for use as an on-chip voltage reference. Microbeams of 100-μm length, 3-μm width, and 11-μm thickness are electrostatically actuated with a very reproducible pull-in voltage at 9.1 V. Devices demonstrated an initial drift of -12 mV over 10 days and stabilized within the 500-μV measurement uncertainty. The measured temperature coefficient of -1 mV/K is in good agreement with the analysis and is due to the combined effect of thermal expansion and the temperature dependence of the Young´s modulus in silicon.

Keywords

Young´s modulus; circuit stability; integrated circuit design; measurement uncertainty; micromechanical devices; reference circuits; thermal expansion; 100 micron; 11 micron; 3 micron; 9.1 V; Young´s modulus; measurement uncertainty; microbeams; micromechanical pull-in voltage reference; on-chip voltage reference; reproducibility; thermal expansion; Electrostatic measurements; Measurement uncertainty; Micromechanical devices; Reproducibility of results; Silicon; Stability; Temperature dependence; Temperature measurement; Thermal expansion; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TIM.2003.810007

Filename

1202073