Modeling and characterization of three kinds of MEMS resonators fabricated with a thick polysilicon technology

Three different kinds of two-port flexural resonators, with both clamped and free ends, and with nominal resonance frequencies between 5 MHz and 50 MHz, were designed and fabricated. Among them, a novel free-free third-mode resonator, as well as a tunable free-free resonator, designed to maintain a high quality factor despite its tunability, are presented. Because of reduced energy loss in the clamps, higher quality factors are expected from free-free devices. To estimate the resonators performance, the effect of temperature and axial stresses on the resonators is investigated: for the clamped-clamped resonator, a theoretical model is also presented. FEM simulations are performed for the three geometries and the results are discussed.