Nonlinearity and hysteresis of resonant strain gauges

Author

Gui, Chengqun ; Legtenberg, Rob ; Tilmans, Harrie A C ; Fluitman, Jan H J ; Elwenspoek, Miko

Author_Institution

MESA Res. Inst., Twente Univ., Enschede, Netherlands

Volume

7

Issue

1

fYear

1998

fDate

3/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

122

Lastpage

127

Abstract

The nonlinearity and hysteresis effects of the electrostatically activated voltage-driven resonant microbridges have been studied theoretically and experimentally. It is shown that in order to avoid vibration instability and hysteresis to occur, the choices of the ac and dc driving voltages and of the quality factor of a resonator, with a given geometry and choice of materials, are limited by a hysteresis criterion. The limiting conditions are also formulated as the hysteresis-free design rules. Expressions for the maximum allowable quality factor and maximum attainable figure of merit are given. Experimental results, as obtained from electrostatically driven vacuum-encapsulated low-pressure chemical-vapor deposition (LPCVD) polysilicon microbridges, are presented and show good agreement with the theory

Keywords

Q-factor; bridge instruments; hysteresis; micromechanical resonators; microsensors; strain gauges; Si; design rule; driving voltage; electrostatic activation; figure of merit; hysteresis; nonlinearity; quality factor; resonant strain gauge; resonator; vacuum-encapsulated LPCVD polysilicon microbridge; vibration instability; Capacitive sensors; Frequency; Geometry; Hysteresis; Microcavities; Q factor; Resonance; Springs; Tensile stress; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/84.661394

Filename

661394