US20100171569A1 - Active double or multi gate micro-electro-mechanical device with built-in transistor - Google Patents
Active double or multi gate micro-electro-mechanical device with built-in transistor Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US20100171569A1 US20100171569A1 US12/621,003 US62100309A US2010171569A1 US 20100171569 A1 US20100171569 A1 US 20100171569A1 US 62100309 A US62100309 A US 62100309A US 2010171569 A1 US2010171569 A1 US 2010171569A1
- Authority
- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- resonator
- active
- transistor
- gate
- gates
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
- 230000003321 amplification Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 14
- 238000003199 nucleic acid amplification method Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 14
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 claims description 12
- VYPSYNLAJGMNEJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Silicium dioxide Chemical compound O=[Si]=O VYPSYNLAJGMNEJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims description 10
- 230000008878 coupling Effects 0.000 claims description 7
- 238000010168 coupling process Methods 0.000 claims description 7
- 238000005859 coupling reaction Methods 0.000 claims description 7
- 238000013461 design Methods 0.000 claims description 7
- 230000010355 oscillation Effects 0.000 claims description 7
- 230000033001 locomotion Effects 0.000 claims description 6
- 210000000746 body region Anatomy 0.000 claims description 5
- 238000002161 passivation Methods 0.000 claims description 5
- 239000000377 silicon dioxide Substances 0.000 claims description 5
- 235000012239 silicon dioxide Nutrition 0.000 claims description 5
- 238000004381 surface treatment Methods 0.000 claims description 5
- 230000005669 field effect Effects 0.000 claims description 4
- 238000002156 mixing Methods 0.000 claims description 4
- 239000002070 nanowire Substances 0.000 claims description 4
- 230000001133 acceleration Effects 0.000 claims description 3
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 claims description 3
- 230000005284 excitation Effects 0.000 claims description 3
- 238000007306 functionalization reaction Methods 0.000 claims description 3
- 229910052581 Si3N4 Inorganic materials 0.000 claims description 2
- 239000004065 semiconductor Substances 0.000 claims description 2
- HQVNEWCFYHHQES-UHFFFAOYSA-N silicon nitride Chemical compound N12[Si]34N5[Si]62N3[Si]51N64 HQVNEWCFYHHQES-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims description 2
- 229910021419 crystalline silicon Inorganic materials 0.000 claims 1
- 230000003647 oxidation Effects 0.000 claims 1
- 238000007254 oxidation reaction Methods 0.000 claims 1
- 229910021420 polycrystalline silicon Inorganic materials 0.000 claims 1
- 238000006073 displacement reaction Methods 0.000 abstract description 2
- 230000010354 integration Effects 0.000 abstract description 2
- 238000001228 spectrum Methods 0.000 description 8
- 230000006870 function Effects 0.000 description 5
- 239000007787 solid Substances 0.000 description 5
- 230000004888 barrier function Effects 0.000 description 4
- 238000001514 detection method Methods 0.000 description 4
- 238000001914 filtration Methods 0.000 description 4
- 239000010410 layer Substances 0.000 description 4
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 4
- 230000005641 tunneling Effects 0.000 description 4
- XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Silicon Chemical compound [Si] XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 3
- 239000000969 carrier Substances 0.000 description 3
- 230000008859 change Effects 0.000 description 3
- 229910052681 coesite Inorganic materials 0.000 description 3
- 229910052906 cristobalite Inorganic materials 0.000 description 3
- 238000005516 engineering process Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000002955 isolation Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000005259 measurement Methods 0.000 description 3
- 239000010703 silicon Substances 0.000 description 3
- 229910052710 silicon Inorganic materials 0.000 description 3
- 230000003068 static effect Effects 0.000 description 3
- 229910052682 stishovite Inorganic materials 0.000 description 3
- 238000012546 transfer Methods 0.000 description 3
- 229910052905 tridymite Inorganic materials 0.000 description 3
- 230000008901 benefit Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 description 2
- 239000004020 conductor Substances 0.000 description 2
- 239000003989 dielectric material Substances 0.000 description 2
- 238000007667 floating Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000001939 inductive effect Effects 0.000 description 2
- 239000002245 particle Substances 0.000 description 2
- 230000008569 process Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000004044 response Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000001878 scanning electron micrograph Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000008054 signal transmission Effects 0.000 description 2
- 239000002210 silicon-based material Substances 0.000 description 2
- 239000000758 substrate Substances 0.000 description 2
- 238000006557 surface reaction Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000010408 sweeping Methods 0.000 description 2
- GNFTZDOKVXKIBK-UHFFFAOYSA-N 3-(2-methoxyethoxy)benzohydrazide Chemical compound COCCOC1=CC=CC(C(=O)NN)=C1 GNFTZDOKVXKIBK-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- FGUUSXIOTUKUDN-IBGZPJMESA-N C1(=CC=CC=C1)N1C2=C(NC([C@H](C1)NC=1OC(=NN=1)C1=CC=CC=C1)=O)C=CC=C2 Chemical compound C1(=CC=CC=C1)N1C2=C(NC([C@H](C1)NC=1OC(=NN=1)C1=CC=CC=C1)=O)C=CC=C2 FGUUSXIOTUKUDN-IBGZPJMESA-N 0.000 description 1
- 101100460147 Sarcophaga bullata NEMS gene Proteins 0.000 description 1
- 229910000577 Silicon-germanium Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 238000009825 accumulation Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000009471 action Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000010276 construction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000007423 decrease Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000003247 decreasing effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000002019 doping agent Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000005684 electric field Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000005530 etching Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000002513 implantation Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000012212 insulator Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000007788 liquid Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000007246 mechanism Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000015654 memory Effects 0.000 description 1
- 229910052751 metal Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000002184 metal Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000001465 metallisation Methods 0.000 description 1
- 150000002739 metals Chemical class 0.000 description 1
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000009467 reduction Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000035945 sensitivity Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000011895 specific detection Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000000126 substance Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000002344 surface layer Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000001131 transforming effect Effects 0.000 description 1
Images
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
- H03H—IMPEDANCE NETWORKS, e.g. RESONANT CIRCUITS; RESONATORS
- H03H9/00—Networks comprising electromechanical or electro-acoustic devices; Electromechanical resonators
- H03H9/24—Constructional features of resonators of material which is not piezoelectric, electrostrictive, or magnetostrictive
- H03H9/2405—Constructional features of resonators of material which is not piezoelectric, electrostrictive, or magnetostrictive of microelectro-mechanical resonators
- H03H9/2426—Constructional features of resonators of material which is not piezoelectric, electrostrictive, or magnetostrictive of microelectro-mechanical resonators in combination with other electronic elements
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
- H03H—IMPEDANCE NETWORKS, e.g. RESONANT CIRCUITS; RESONATORS
- H03H3/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture of impedance networks, resonating circuits, resonators
- H03H3/007—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture of impedance networks, resonating circuits, resonators for the manufacture of electromechanical resonators or networks
- H03H3/0072—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture of impedance networks, resonating circuits, resonators for the manufacture of electromechanical resonators or networks of microelectro-mechanical resonators or networks
- H03H3/0073—Integration with other electronic structures
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
- H03H—IMPEDANCE NETWORKS, e.g. RESONANT CIRCUITS; RESONATORS
- H03H9/00—Networks comprising electromechanical or electro-acoustic devices; Electromechanical resonators
- H03H9/46—Filters
- H03H9/462—Microelectro-mechanical filters
- H03H9/465—Microelectro-mechanical filters in combination with other electronic elements
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
- H03H—IMPEDANCE NETWORKS, e.g. RESONANT CIRCUITS; RESONATORS
- H03H9/00—Networks comprising electromechanical or electro-acoustic devices; Electromechanical resonators
- H03H9/02—Details
- H03H9/02244—Details of microelectro-mechanical resonators
- H03H2009/02283—Vibrating means
- H03H2009/02291—Beams
- H03H2009/02314—Beams forming part of a transistor structure
Definitions
- the present invention concerns the field of vibrating micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) and transistors, in particular the combination of both to improve the performances of MEM resonators.
- MEMS micro electro mechanical systems
- the present invention exploits the combination of the amplification, provided by the integration of a FET (or similar active device), with the signal modulation, provided by the MEM resonator, to build a MEM resonator with intrinsic signal gain (hereafter called active MEM resonator).
- active MEM resonator a MEM resonator with intrinsic signal gain
- the current device is based on the Single Gate device published in 2007 [7], which is incorporated by reference in its entirety in the present application, and the body of the transistor is the vibrant part.
- the present invention is however clearly distinct as it uses two or more electrodes to modulate the current in one transistor.
- the advantages of this configuration over the state of the art are a reduction of the number interconnections needed (simplification of the fabrication), an increase of the electrostatic control on the FET body region and an increase of the resulting current modulation through.
- the increase of the electrostatic control on the transistor body can be obtained by two or more gates placed in the same plane, increasing the number of active channels. Furthermore, supplementary gates can be placed in parallel planes below and above, increasing the potential control on one or more channel by coupled action of some or all gates.
- the type of transistor and its mode of operation it can be more advantageous to operate the gates in a coupled voltage mode or with independent voltages.
- the present invention integrates the vertical transistor into the mode shape of the mechanical displacement.
- a stress may be induced in the channel region of the transistor, which modulates the conductivity of the channel (piezoresistive effect).
- the effective mass and mobility of the carriers in the channel change with the stress, which is a function of the vibration amplitude and as a consequence, the total current Ids in the transistor is modulated by a combination of the field effect (number of carriers in the channel) and the piezoresistive effect (mobility and mass of the carriers).
- the stress-component(s) in the channel region may be uniaxial or biaxial (along or perpendicular) to the current flow.
- the number of interconnections in WO 2007/135064 [6] is higher because each individual transistor is coupled to a single gate only and each has a source and a drain, all needing individual interconnections to the respective contact.
- the proposed invention reduces the number of contact lines by combining multiple channels into one transistor, thus simplifying the electrical interconnect schematic while maximizing the transistors current modulation capability.
- the body of the transistor described in this invention can be surrounded by one or more stacked surface layers ( 7 , 7 ′) to control the surface conduction in a similar way to a solid-state-transistor. It is common to use a gate oxide at the channel surface to increase the performance of the transistor.
- a channel stack ( 7 , 7 ′) can include dielectric materials to increase the electrostatic coupling (e.g. high-k materials, . . . ) and conductive materials (metals, silicon, . . . ) to create a floating gate further optimizing the transistor. For some device structures vibrating at very small amplitudes (usually in the order of nm), the dielectric materials can completely close the air-gap, transforming the device into a vibrating transistor with solid-gap.
- Other layers in the channel stack ( 7 , 7 ′) include surface treatments for sensing applications.
- the present invention is not limited to resonators, but extends to resonant and non-resonant embodiments of transistor based motion detection using two or more gates as is useful in the field of MEMS and NEMS sensors (Accelerometers, gyroscopes, . . . ).
- MEMS and NEMS sensors Accelelerometers, gyroscopes, . . .
- Such a vibrating body transistor can be used in an open-loop or closed loop configuration, below, at or above its mechanical resonance frequency.
- Applications of special interest include, but are not limited to hysteric switches with two or more gates or mechanical memories using a single transistor and two or more gates.
- the vibrating structure is the device body made on a semiconductor material or made on a hero-structure and two or more fixed gates can be placed around the device body, being separated from it by air-gap or by solid-gap insulators.
- Low power consumption of the active MEM resonator is obtained under certain bias conditions (e.g.: sub-threshold operation, low drain voltage) and could be of great interest for low power applications.
- the multi-gate configuration allows to use the MEM resonator to broaden the tuning range of the signal gain and gives direct control of the output signal phase (0 and ⁇ , for positive/negative bias voltages; additionally the phase depends on the mode shape of the resonator).
- an active MEM resonator with signal gain in an open loop configuration is proposed based on the gain provided by the integrated FET. This is interesting for channel selective filtering in RF communications, with low signal levels.
- a mixing filtering technique making use of either one (two tone signal (LO+RF)) or multiple electrodes (single signal on every electrode, may include drain electrode) to generate the difference or sum of the two applied frequencies.
- the mechanical response of the resonator directly filters the IF signal.
- an oscillator is proposed based on the gain provided by the active MEM resonator.
- Conventional oscillators use a dedicated amplifier, to compensate for the loss in the resonator, to sustain the oscillation.
- the gain provided by the external amplifier is no longer needed, simplifying therefore the circuit design and reducing the cost.
- a resonant sensor is proposed based on the active MEM resonator.
- the current modulation of the active MEM resonator is offering a high robustness to noise and the surface treatment and passivation (for example SiO2) of the active MEM resonator provides electrical isolation and the possibility to add functionalization for bio-sensing applications, SiO2 surface passivation is a standard of FET technology and allows a thermal compensation of the silicon material properties.
- Surface functionalization is used for resonant sensors: the surface becomes sensitive to one specific particle, which can then be detected.
- FIG. 1 is a three dimensional view of a flexural active MEM resonator.
- FIG. 2 a more detailed top view of a possible active MEM resonator.
- FIG. 3 a more detailed cross-section through the center of the active MEM resonator of FIG. 1 .
- FIG. 4 A possible configuration of an active beam resonator, expanding the number of channels (4 in this figure) and gates (3 in this figure).
- FIG. 5 A top view of a possible bulk mode active MEM resonator in a multi-gate configuration (4 gates/4 channels).
- FIG. 6 A possible fabrication process
- FIG. 7 A SEM image of a fabricated active MEM resonator.
- FIG. 8 Experimental static characteristics of an active MEM resonator.
- FIG. 9 Experimental transmission scattering parameter of an active MEM resonator.
- FIG. 10 Experimental transmission scattering parameter of an active MEM resonator with drain voltage as parameter.
- FIG. 11 ( a ) Possible design of an active MEM resonator filter, the “inactive” MEMFET input terminal does not influence the drain current and an active MEMFET device used as output. (b) Lumped parameter representation in the mechanical domain of a simple filter function and (c) a schematic of the two mode shapes the system.
- FIG. 12 ( a ) Possible spectrum of the mixer operation of VB-FET.
- FIG. 13 Possible setup for an oscillator circuit based on the active MEM resonator.
- An output buffer is drawn in FIG. 7 to drive the signal on the measurement instruments and is not needed for the oscillator operation.
- FIG. 14 Spectrum of an active MEM resonator based oscillator.
- FIG. 1 A simplified three dimensional drawing is shown in FIG. 1 .
- the gate G 1 , G 2 structures 1 and 1 ′ are laterally placed and fixed with respect to the substrate.
- a source region 2 , a drain region 3 and a low doped body region 4 connecting the source and drain form the active MEM resonator.
- the channels 5 , 5 ′ are formed at the lateral interfaces of the body regions 2 , 3 and 4 .
- the active MEM resonator is connected by elastic means 6 to the substrate.
- a possible gate stack 7 can be placed. If the drain and source have the same type of doping (e.g. n+ or p+), the structure operates a vibrating FET (enhancement or accumulation transistor: n+ ⁇ p ⁇ n+, p+ ⁇ n ⁇ p+, n+ ⁇ n ⁇ n+, p+ ⁇ p. p+).
- the structure transforms in a p-i-n junction and can be operated as vibrating tunnel FET (gate overlapped on the central body) or as a vibrating impact ionization MOS (gate partially overlapped on the central body and high reversed drain voltage applied).
- FIG. 2 is a detailed top view of the structure shown in FIG. 1 , adding more details about the possible channel stack, which may be placed on one or both sides of an air gap.
- One or a stack of material 7 , 7 ′ e.g. dielectric like silicon dioxide or silicon nitride
- a gate-to-air gap stack 8 , 8 ′ may be formed in the same process step, and maybe be made of the same material, or include conductive material to improve the device characteristics.
- a solid gap based MEM device may include the gap and the gate into its motion (intrinsic solid gap) or the solid gap represents a boundary for the motion (external solid gap).
- FIG. 3 is a cross-section of a possible active MEM resonator.
- the material deposited to improve the interfaces 7 , 7 ′ can be deposited in a conformal or a non-conformal way.
- FIG. 1 The simple structure of FIG. 1 can be extended to a higher number of gates 1 , 1 ′, 1 ′′ and of channels 5 , 5 ′, 5 ′′, 5 ′′′, as illustrated in FIG. 4 , to improve the signal gain by the means of elastic connections 9 of different stiffness, different coupling mode between the channels of the active MEM resonator are possible. This is may be used to create different frequency characteristics (e.g. multi-peak filter or single peak resonator).
- the active MEM resonator principle can be applied to bulk mode resonator with four gates 1 ′, 1 ′′, 1 ′′′ four channels 5 ′, 5 ′′, 5 ′′′ depending on the desired frequency range.
- FIG. 6 illustrates a possible fabrication process of the active MEM resonator.
- step a an etch mask is formed on top of the structural layer used to build resonator.
- step b The structures formed previously are etched into the structural layer.
- step c The etch mask is removed.
- step d A mask for implantation is formed and different regions of the active MEM resonator are implanted to form the source, drain, gate and body regions of the device.
- step e The dopants are activated, the resonator is released by sacrificial etching of the material below the resonator and the gate stack is formed.
- step f The released structures are protected with a material during the following step,
- step g the following contact opening and metallization steps.
- step h The active MEM resonator is released from the protection material.
- FIGS. 7( a ) and ( b ) are SEM images of active MEM resonators.
- the one illustrated in FIG. 7( b ) is working at a frequency of 71 MHz with four independent gates controlling the inversion charge in the four channels placed on the four lateral sides.
- the center of the resonator acts a FET body and can be either floating (as seen in FIG. 7) or connected to through one or several anchors to an external voltage source.
- FIG. 8 the static characteristics measured on an active MEM resonator are depicted.
- the I D V D curve resembles similar curve obtained from conventional CMOS circuits, while the inset shows the I D V G characteristics of the same device.
- the mechanical pull-in and pull-out is clearly visible.
- FIG. 9 A frequency response of an active MEM resonator with a signal gain of approx. +3 dB on a 50 ⁇ input is shown in FIG. 9 .
- the frequency is function of the applied voltages, in case of the active MEM resonator all gate and drain voltages influence the resonance frequency.
- FIG. 10 shows several frequency characteristics of an active MEM resonator for different drain voltages.
- FIG. 11( a ) A possible layout of tuning fork filter based on an active MEM resonator is shown in FIG. 11( a ).
- the signal is applied on Gate 1 , which is “inactive”, that means it does not contribute to the output current.
- Such an active filter can be represented by multiple springs and masses, see FIG. 11( b ).
- FIG. 11( c ) is a schematic representation of the mode shapes the systems can assume.
- the active MEMFET is amplifying the input signal in the pass-band of the filter transfer function.
- the active MEM resonator filter comprises at least a resonator with a mechanical filter comprising coupled and/or uncoupled active MEM resonators placed in a topology to create the desired filter shape and input/output impedance, achieving signal amplification in the structure.
- the combination of active and inactive vibrating body FETs increase the design flexibility and are important to achieve a given mode shape in the output current.
- FIG. 12( a ) The spectrum of an active MEM resonator used as mixer-filter is shown in FIG. 12( a ).
- the setup used for the measurement is shown in FIG. 12( b ), where both signals to be mixed (LO and RF) are applied on both gate electrodes.
- the bias voltage on one of the electrodes is negative, to account for the phase difference between the two channels.
- FIG. 12( c ) is the filter transfer function of the active MEM resonator mixer, memorizing the maximum output at each frequency when sweeping LO in a narrow range.
- the black curve is an overlay of a part of the 40 MHz spectrum of FIG. 12( a ).
- the filter envelope is given by the mechanical design of the active MEM resonator and can be of higher order, compared to the resonator.
- the mixing occurs when the difference of the two signals (RF and LO) to be mixed corresponds to the resonance frequency (IF) of the resonator.
- the frequency IF can be generated with different configurations:
- FIG. 13 shows such a device, were the ac signal generated in the drain current is converted into a voltage signal and feed back to the gate.
- FIG. 14 the frequency spectrum of such an active MEM resonator based oscillator without external amplifier is shown in FIG. 13 .
- the oscillator circuit loop includes an amplification and/or amplitude control circuit, where the circuit may serve different purposes, such as a reducing the start-up time of the oscillator, limiting the amplitude of the oscillator and/or amplification of the signal to sustain the oscillation.
- the oscillator circuit loop may not include an amplification and/or amplitude control circuit in the signal loop, such that the gain of the active MEM resonator sustains the oscillations.
- the layout is chosen such that the current signal is converted on a passive element such as the input impedance of the active MEM resonator in a voltage signal and applied on the gate of the active resonator.
- no loop is needed to sustain the oscillation, such that under specific bias conditions, the device starts to self-oscillate without an external excitation, a sustaining amplifier or a loop connection.
- self-oscillation occurs in Vibrating Body FETs with gain and is a simple layout for an oscillator based on an active MEM resonator.
- Mass-sensing is given as an example of a resonant sensor based on a active MEM resonator. Due to the current based read-out robust signal processing is possible.
- the mass sensing can be done with a functionalization layer ( FIG. 3 , 7 ′) to directly influence the key parameters of the active MEM resonator.
- the quantity to be analyzed can be frequency, Q, signal gain or a combination of all relevant parameters.
- the physical quantity to be sensed can be of different origin (e.g. temperature pressure, acceleration and mass), when its influence on the active resonator resonance frequency or quality factor is known.
- the internal amplification provides a current based signal, which is robust to noise and other perturbations whereby the interfacing with integrated silicon circuits would be much easier in current detection than in capacitive detection.
- the surface passivation as described above is important for electrical isolation and bio-sensing applications.
- SiO2 surface passivation is a standard of FET technology and was the key for the CMOS technology. It is necessary and additionally allows at the thermal compensation of the silicon material properties.
- Surface functionalization is used for resonant sensors: in this case, the surface becomes sensitive to one specific particle, which can then be detected.
- the sensing of chemicals implies preferably a surface treatment, to ensure a molecule specific detection. Sensing of physical quantities does not need a modification of the device (temperature pressure, acceleration and mass), but the design can be optimized for the given quantity to be measured.
Abstract
The present invention exploits the combination of the amplification, provided by the integration of a FET (or any other active device with two or more terminals), with the signal modulation, provided by the MEM resonator, to build a MEM resonator with built-in transistor (hereafter called active MEM resonator). In these devices, a mechanical displacement is converted into a current modulation and depending on the active MEM resonator geometry, number of gates and bias conditions it is possible to selectively amplify an applied signal. This invention integrates proposes to integrate transistor and micro-electro-mechanical resonator operation in a device with a single body and multiple surrounding gates for improved performance, control and functionality. Moreover, under certain conditions, an active resonator can serve as DC-AC converter and provide at the output an AC signal corresponding to its mechanical resonance frequency.
Description
- The present invention concerns the field of vibrating micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) and transistors, in particular the combination of both to improve the performances of MEM resonators.
- The present invention exploits the combination of the amplification, provided by the integration of a FET (or similar active device), with the signal modulation, provided by the MEM resonator, to build a MEM resonator with intrinsic signal gain (hereafter called active MEM resonator). Depending on the active MEM resonator dimensions and under certain bias conditions it is possible to selectively amplify an applied signal.
- The principle of such device operating in a Double Gate configuration has been fully validated for the first time by the inventors of the present application in a 2008 publication [1], which is incorporated by reference in its entirety in the present application and is in total contrast with the device reported in previous publications [2-5] and the patent application WO 2007/135064[6], where the gate of a transistor is vibrating, offering key advantages for the intrinsic signal gain, scaling of the device and a larger range of applications. More specifically, in this prior art publication, in all the configurations disclosed, each individual transistor is coupled to a single gate only.
- The current device is based on the Single Gate device published in 2007 [7], which is incorporated by reference in its entirety in the present application, and the body of the transistor is the vibrant part. The present invention is however clearly distinct as it uses two or more electrodes to modulate the current in one transistor. The advantages of this configuration over the state of the art are a reduction of the number interconnections needed (simplification of the fabrication), an increase of the electrostatic control on the FET body region and an increase of the resulting current modulation through.
- The increase of the electrostatic control on the transistor body can be obtained by two or more gates placed in the same plane, increasing the number of active channels. Furthermore, supplementary gates can be placed in parallel planes below and above, increasing the potential control on one or more channel by coupled action of some or all gates.
- Depending on the exact geometry, the type of transistor and its mode of operation, it can be more advantageous to operate the gates in a coupled voltage mode or with independent voltages.
- In contrast to the state of the art, the present invention integrates the vertical transistor into the mode shape of the mechanical displacement. As a consequence and unlike the structure presented in WO 2007/135064 [6], a stress may be induced in the channel region of the transistor, which modulates the conductivity of the channel (piezoresistive effect). The effective mass and mobility of the carriers in the channel change with the stress, which is a function of the vibration amplitude and as a consequence, the total current Ids in the transistor is modulated by a combination of the field effect (number of carriers in the channel) and the piezoresistive effect (mobility and mass of the carriers). The stress-component(s) in the channel region may be uniaxial or biaxial (along or perpendicular) to the current flow.
- Moreover, the number of interconnections in WO 2007/135064 [6], is higher because each individual transistor is coupled to a single gate only and each has a source and a drain, all needing individual interconnections to the respective contact. The proposed invention reduces the number of contact lines by combining multiple channels into one transistor, thus simplifying the electrical interconnect schematic while maximizing the transistors current modulation capability.
- The body of the transistor described in this invention can be surrounded by one or more stacked surface layers (7,7′) to control the surface conduction in a similar way to a solid-state-transistor. It is common to use a gate oxide at the channel surface to increase the performance of the transistor. A channel stack (7,7′) can include dielectric materials to increase the electrostatic coupling (e.g. high-k materials, . . . ) and conductive materials (metals, silicon, . . . ) to create a floating gate further optimizing the transistor. For some device structures vibrating at very small amplitudes (usually in the order of nm), the dielectric materials can completely close the air-gap, transforming the device into a vibrating transistor with solid-gap.
- Other layers in the channel stack (7,7′) include surface treatments for sensing applications.
- The present invention is not limited to resonators, but extends to resonant and non-resonant embodiments of transistor based motion detection using two or more gates as is useful in the field of MEMS and NEMS sensors (Accelerometers, gyroscopes, . . . ). Such a vibrating body transistor can be used in an open-loop or closed loop configuration, below, at or above its mechanical resonance frequency. Applications of special interest include, but are not limited to hysteric switches with two or more gates or mechanical memories using a single transistor and two or more gates.
- We propose the extension of the vibrating FET principle to any other two-terminal or multi-terminal gated device, where the device body is suspended and vibrates, inducing the modulation of the output current such as:
- (i) tunnel FETs (gated pin junction) with vibrating body—in this case the varying electrostatic coupling, at resonance, modulates the tunneling barrier of a silicon. III-V, SiGe or heterostructure tunnel FET with suspended body operated as a reversed bias junction. A strong modulation of the band-to-band (quantum-mechanical) tunneling current can be achieved when the width of the tunneling barrier is modulated by varying field and local strain resulting from the mechanical motion. The conduction mechanism in such vibrating device is completely different from the one in a field effect transistor and the sensitivity to the vibration amplitude is expected to be much higher. This device will also offer better static power consumption compared to a MOSFET and signal gain at voltages and currents much lower than in any MOSFET transistor. Any tunnel FET can be also operated as gate junction in forward mode and current modulation can be also expected.
- (ii) impact ionization FET with vibrating body—in an impact ionization MOSFET based on similarly suspended structure where the gate is partially overlapped on a p-i-n junction, operated with reversed bias, the vibration of the device body will locally change the electrical field and/or the stress, which will modulate the impact ionization current.
- (iii) gated Zener diodes (gated p+n+ structures) with vibrating body—in a reversed biased gate Zener diode the vibrating body will locally modulate the band-to-band device current, similarly to the description proposed by tunnel FETs.
- (iv) vibrating-dot or vibrating-nanowire Single Electron Transistors (SETs)—here we propose two configuration of Single Electron Transistor active resonator where the central dot or nanowire is vibrating by the excitation applied by the gate. In the vibrating dot configuration, the central dot is anchored by two solid-state tunneling junctions to source and drain and excited via capacitive coupling through an airgap by one, two or more surrounding gates. In the SET nanowire configuration, the source and drain tunnel junction transparence (barrier height) can be modulated by the vibrating structure. Moreover, a suspended channel FET can be transformed by vibrations with high amplitude, inducing local tunnel barriers, into a suspended channel SET.
- In all these cases the vibrating structure is the device body made on a semiconductor material or made on a hero-structure and two or more fixed gates can be placed around the device body, being separated from it by air-gap or by solid-gap insulators.
- The signal transmission parameters of such devices are well beyond what is currently possible for conventional capacitively transduced passive MEM resonators [8-13], where a change in the resonator to electrode spacing under a constant bias voltage generates a current in both the resonator and the electrode. This current depends on the geometry of the device and is usually rather low. Especially the dependence on the electrode surface makes scaling of capacitive transduced passive MEM resonators difficult without strongly decreasing the signal transmission parameters. Depending on the active MEM resonator and the air gap dimensions, signal gain can be obtained for low voltages (16 V demonstrated) when connected to a state of the art 50Ω RF circuits. Low power consumption of the active MEM resonator is obtained under certain bias conditions (e.g.: sub-threshold operation, low drain voltage) and could be of great interest for low power applications. Further, the multi-gate configuration allows to use the MEM resonator to broaden the tuning range of the signal gain and gives direct control of the output signal phase (0 and π, for positive/negative bias voltages; additionally the phase depends on the mode shape of the resonator).
- In one embodiment, an active MEM resonator with signal gain in an open loop configuration is proposed based on the gain provided by the integrated FET. This is interesting for channel selective filtering in RF communications, with low signal levels.
- In another embodiment, a mixing filtering technique is proposed making use of either one (two tone signal (LO+RF)) or multiple electrodes (single signal on every electrode, may include drain electrode) to generate the difference or sum of the two applied frequencies. The mechanical response of the resonator directly filters the IF signal.
- In one embodiment an oscillator is proposed based on the gain provided by the active MEM resonator. Conventional oscillators use a dedicated amplifier, to compensate for the loss in the resonator, to sustain the oscillation. For active MEM resonators the gain provided by the external amplifier is no longer needed, simplifying therefore the circuit design and reducing the cost.
- In a further embodiment, a resonant sensor is proposed based on the active MEM resonator. The current modulation of the active MEM resonator is offering a high robustness to noise and the surface treatment and passivation (for example SiO2) of the active MEM resonator provides electrical isolation and the possibility to add functionalization for bio-sensing applications, SiO2 surface passivation is a standard of FET technology and allows a thermal compensation of the silicon material properties. Surface functionalization is used for resonant sensors: the surface becomes sensitive to one specific particle, which can then be detected.
-
FIG. 1 is a three dimensional view of a flexural active MEM resonator. -
FIG. 2 a more detailed top view of a possible active MEM resonator. -
FIG. 3 a more detailed cross-section through the center of the active MEM resonator ofFIG. 1 . -
FIG. 4 . A possible configuration of an active beam resonator, expanding the number of channels (4 in this figure) and gates (3 in this figure). -
FIG. 5 A top view of a possible bulk mode active MEM resonator in a multi-gate configuration (4 gates/4 channels). -
FIG. 6 A possible fabrication process -
FIG. 7 A SEM image of a fabricated active MEM resonator. -
FIG. 8 Experimental static characteristics of an active MEM resonator. -
FIG. 9 Experimental transmission scattering parameter of an active MEM resonator. -
FIG. 10 Experimental transmission scattering parameter of an active MEM resonator with drain voltage as parameter. -
FIG. 11 (a) Possible design of an active MEM resonator filter, the “inactive” MEMFET input terminal does not influence the drain current and an active MEMFET device used as output. (b) Lumped parameter representation in the mechanical domain of a simple filter function and (c) a schematic of the two mode shapes the system. -
FIG. 12 (a) Possible spectrum of the mixer operation of VB-FET. (b) Mixer measurement configuration: the signals applied to the gates are: VG1=RF+LO+VDC and VG2=RF+LO−VDC (to compensate for the phase difference) and the output spectrum measured on the drain. (c) Transfer spectrum around the resonance frequency by sweeping LO in a narrow range and memorizing the maximum output power at each frequency: black curve is an overlay of the full-span (40 MHz) spectrum. -
FIG. 13 Possible setup for an oscillator circuit based on the active MEM resonator. An output buffer is drawn inFIG. 7 to drive the signal on the measurement instruments and is not needed for the oscillator operation. -
FIG. 14 Spectrum of an active MEM resonator based oscillator. - A simplified three dimensional drawing is shown in
FIG. 1 . The gate G1,G2 structures - A
source region 2, adrain region 3 and a lowdoped body region 4 connecting the source and drain form the active MEM resonator. Thechannels body regions elastic means 6 to the substrate. Along the channel-to-air gap interface, apossible gate stack 7 can be placed. If the drain and source have the same type of doping (e.g. n+ or p+), the structure operates a vibrating FET (enhancement or accumulation transistor: n+−p−n+, p+−n−p+, n+−n−n+, p+−p. p+). - If the drain and the source have opposite dopings and the central part is low doped the structure transforms in a p-i-n junction and can be operated as vibrating tunnel FET (gate overlapped on the central body) or as a vibrating impact ionization MOS (gate partially overlapped on the central body and high reversed drain voltage applied).
-
FIG. 2 is a detailed top view of the structure shown inFIG. 1 , adding more details about the possible channel stack, which may be placed on one or both sides of an air gap. One or a stack ofmaterial air gap stack - In the latter case, a strong acoustic impedance miss-match decreases the amount of energy radiating from the channel into the gate region.
-
FIG. 3 is a cross-section of a possible active MEM resonator. The material deposited to improve theinterfaces - The simple structure of
FIG. 1 can be extended to a higher number ofgates channels FIG. 4 , to improve the signal gain by the means ofelastic connections 9 of different stiffness, different coupling mode between the channels of the active MEM resonator are possible. This is may be used to create different frequency characteristics (e.g. multi-peak filter or single peak resonator). - As illustrated in
FIG. 5 the active MEM resonator principle can be applied to bulk mode resonator with fourgates 1′, 1″, 1′″ fourchannels 5′, 5″, 5′″ depending on the desired frequency range. - Other configurations with more gates than illustrated are of course possible in the frame of the present invention. The detection principle can be applied to other resonators using different types of movements, such as flexural or torsional resonators
-
FIG. 6 illustrates a possible fabrication process of the active MEM resonator. - (step a) an etch mask is formed on top of the structural layer used to build resonator.
- (step b) The structures formed previously are etched into the structural layer.
- (step c) The etch mask is removed.
- (step d) A mask for implantation is formed and different regions of the active MEM resonator are implanted to form the source, drain, gate and body regions of the device.
- (step e) The dopants are activated, the resonator is released by sacrificial etching of the material below the resonator and the gate stack is formed.
- (step f) The released structures are protected with a material during the following step,
- (step g) the following contact opening and metallization steps.
- (step h) The active MEM resonator is released from the protection material.
-
FIGS. 7( a) and (b) are SEM images of active MEM resonators. The one illustrated inFIG. 7( b) is working at a frequency of 71 MHz with four independent gates controlling the inversion charge in the four channels placed on the four lateral sides. The center of the resonator acts a FET body and can be either floating (as seen inFIG. 7) or connected to through one or several anchors to an external voltage source. - In
FIG. 8 the static characteristics measured on an active MEM resonator are depicted. The IDVD curve resembles similar curve obtained from conventional CMOS circuits, while the inset shows the IDVG characteristics of the same device. The mechanical pull-in and pull-out is clearly visible. - A frequency response of an active MEM resonator with a signal gain of approx. +3 dB on a 50Ω input is shown in
FIG. 9 . As for similar conventional MEM resonator, the frequency is function of the applied voltages, in case of the active MEM resonator all gate and drain voltages influence the resonance frequency.FIG. 10 shows several frequency characteristics of an active MEM resonator for different drain voltages. - The presence of gain in the current invention is of importance and allows several new architectures and applications. Possible architectures include active filers (
FIG. 11 ), where the filtering and the amplification is achieved with a single device, active mechanical mixer-filters, which include three functionalities (mixing, filtering and amplification) in one device (FIG. 12 ) and novel oscillator architectures (FIGS. 13 and 14 ) without the needed for a separate feed-back amplifier. The following architectures (Filter, Mixer-filter, Oscillator) even though greatly benefiting from the gain, can also be realized in a more traditional way using the vibrating body transistor as a highly sensitive device without gain. - A possible layout of tuning fork filter based on an active MEM resonator is shown in
FIG. 11( a). In the given example the signal is applied on Gate1, which is “inactive”, that means it does not contribute to the output current. Such an active filter can be represented by multiple springs and masses, seeFIG. 11( b).FIG. 11( c) is a schematic representation of the mode shapes the systems can assume. The active MEMFET is amplifying the input signal in the pass-band of the filter transfer function. - The active MEM resonator filter comprises at least a resonator with a mechanical filter comprising coupled and/or uncoupled active MEM resonators placed in a topology to create the desired filter shape and input/output impedance, achieving signal amplification in the structure. The combination of active and inactive vibrating body FETs increase the design flexibility and are important to achieve a given mode shape in the output current.
- The spectrum of an active MEM resonator used as mixer-filter is shown in
FIG. 12( a). The setup used for the measurement is shown inFIG. 12( b), where both signals to be mixed (LO and RF) are applied on both gate electrodes. The bias voltage on one of the electrodes is negative, to account for the phase difference between the two channels. -
FIG. 12( c) is the filter transfer function of the active MEM resonator mixer, memorizing the maximum output at each frequency when sweeping LO in a narrow range. The black curve is an overlay of a part of the 40 MHz spectrum ofFIG. 12( a). - In the active MEM resonator mixer-filter configuration, the filter envelope is given by the mechanical design of the active MEM resonator and can be of higher order, compared to the resonator. The mixing occurs when the difference of the two signals (RF and LO) to be mixed corresponds to the resonance frequency (IF) of the resonator. The frequency IF can be generated with different configurations:
- (i) RF and LO on the same gate(s),
- (ii) RF on the gate(s), LO on the vibrating body,
- (iii) RF and LO on separate gates,
- making use of surface potential in small vibrating body transistor.
- Depending on the exact realization of the active MEM resonator, different circuits for an oscillator without external amplifier are possible.
FIG. 13 shows such a device, were the ac signal generated in the drain current is converted into a voltage signal and feed back to the gate. -
FIG. 14 the frequency spectrum of such an active MEM resonator based oscillator without external amplifier is shown inFIG. 13 . - In an active MEM resonator oscillator, the oscillator circuit loop includes an amplification and/or amplitude control circuit, where the circuit may serve different purposes, such as a reducing the start-up time of the oscillator, limiting the amplitude of the oscillator and/or amplification of the signal to sustain the oscillation.
- In one embodiment, the oscillator circuit loop may not include an amplification and/or amplitude control circuit in the signal loop, such that the gain of the active MEM resonator sustains the oscillations. The layout is chosen such that the current signal is converted on a passive element such as the input impedance of the active MEM resonator in a voltage signal and applied on the gate of the active resonator.
- In another embodiment, no loop is needed to sustain the oscillation, such that under specific bias conditions, the device starts to self-oscillate without an external excitation, a sustaining amplifier or a loop connection. Such self-oscillation occurs in Vibrating Body FETs with gain and is a simple layout for an oscillator based on an active MEM resonator.
- Mass-sensing is given as an example of a resonant sensor based on a active MEM resonator. Due to the current based read-out robust signal processing is possible. The mass sensing can be done with a functionalization layer (
FIG. 3 , 7′) to directly influence the key parameters of the active MEM resonator. The quantity to be analyzed can be frequency, Q, signal gain or a combination of all relevant parameters. - The physical quantity to be sensed can be of different origin (e.g. temperature pressure, acceleration and mass), when its influence on the active resonator resonance frequency or quality factor is known. The internal amplification provides a current based signal, which is robust to noise and other perturbations whereby the interfacing with integrated silicon circuits would be much easier in current detection than in capacitive detection. The surface passivation as described above is important for electrical isolation and bio-sensing applications.
- As mentioned previously, SiO2 surface passivation is a standard of FET technology and was the key for the CMOS technology. It is necessary and additionally allows at the thermal compensation of the silicon material properties.
- Surface functionalization is used for resonant sensors: in this case, the surface becomes sensitive to one specific particle, which can then be detected.
- The sensing of chemicals (molecules in gas or liquids) implies preferably a surface treatment, to ensure a molecule specific detection. Sensing of physical quantities does not need a modification of the device (temperature pressure, acceleration and mass), but the design can be optimized for the given quantity to be measured.
- Of course, all the examples given above should be regarded as illustrative and not construed in a limiting fashion. The present invention may be applied to active devices with and without the presence of gain. Also equivalent constructions may be envisaged in the frame of the present invention.
-
- 1. D. Grogg, H. C. Tekin, N. D. Badila-Ciressan, M. Mazza, D. Tsamados, and A. M. Ionescu, “Laterally vibrating-body double gate MOSFET with improved signal detection,” in Device Research Conference, 2008, pp. 155-156, 2008.
- 2. N. Abele, R. Fritschi, K. Boucart, F. Casset, P. Ancey, and A. M. Ionescu, “Suspended-gate MOSFET: bringing new MEMS functionality into solid-state MOS transistor,” in Electron Devices Meeting, 2005, IEDM, 2005, pp. 479-481.
- 3. E. Colinet, C. Durand, P. Audebert, P. Renaux, D. Mercier, L. Duraffourg, E. Oilier, F. Casset, P, Ancey, L. Buchaillot, and A. M. Ionescu, “Measurement of Nano-Displacement Based on In-Plane Suspended-Gate MOSFET Detection Compatible with a Front-End CMOS Process,” in International Solid-State Circuits Conference, 2008. ISSCC, 2008, pp. 332-333.
- 4. C. Durand, F. Casset, P. Renaux, N. Abele, B. Legrand, D. Renaud, E. Oilier, P. Ancey, A. M. Ionescu, and L, Buchaillot, “In-Plane Silicon-On-Nothing Nanometer-Scale Resonant Suspended Gate MOSFET for In-IC Integration Perspectives,” Electron Device Letters, IEEE, vol. 29, pp. 494-496, 2008.
- 5. E. Ollier, L. Duraffourg, E. Colinet, C. Durand, D. Renaud, A. Royet, P. Renaux, F. Casset, and P. Robert, “Lateral MOSFET transistor with movable gate for NEMS devices compatible with “In-IC” integration,” in Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems, 2008. NEMS, 2008, pp. 764-769.
- 6. E. Oilier, L. Duraffourg, P. Andreucci, “Motion sensitive device comprising at least one transistor”, Patent No.: WO 2007/135064 A1, Nov. 29, 2007.
- 7. D. Grogg, D. Tsamados, N. D. Badila, and A. M. Ionescu, “Integration of MOSFET Transistors in MEMS Resonators for Improved Output Detection,” in Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, 2007. TRANSDUCERS, 2007, pp. 1709-1712.
- 8. W. C. Tang, T.-C. H. Nguyen, and R. T. Howe, “Laterally Driven Polysilicon Resonant Microstructures,” Sensors and Actuators, vol. 20, pp. 25-32, 1989.
- 9. C. T. C. Nguyen and R. T. Howe, “CMOS micromechanical resonator oscillator,” in Electron Devices Meeting, 1993. IEDM '93. Technical Digest., International, 1993, pp. 199-202.
- 10. F. D. Bannon, III, J. R, Clark, and C. T. C. Nguyen, “High frequency microelectromechanical IF filters,” in Electron Devices Meeting, 1996., International, 1996, pp. 773-776.
- 11. L. Lin, C. T. Nguyen, R. I. Howe, A. P. Pisano, “Microelectromechanical signal processor”, Patent No.: WO 94/14240, Jun. 23, 1994.
- 12. J. R. Clark, C. T. C. Nguyen, “Micromechanical resonator device has single electrode structure on substrate for electrostatic excitation and current output sensing”, U.S. Pat. No. 6,856,217 B1, Feb. 15, 2005.
- 13. F. Ayazi, S. Anaraki, G. K. F. Ho, “Capacitive vertical silicon bulk acoustic resonators”, Patent No.: US 2006/0044078 A1, Mar. 2, 2006.
Claims (20)
1. An active micro-electro-mechanical resonator comprising a vibrating body transistor with a source (2), a drain (3) and a low doped body region (4) connecting the source and the drain, and at least two fixed gates (1,1′,1″), wherein the transistor cooperates with each gate.
2. A resonator as defined in claim 1 , wherein independent channels are formed in the transistor by multiple gates and wherein the gates act on each channel individually or in a coupled mode.
3. A resonator as defined in claim 1 , wherein the current modulation in the transistor results from a combination of the piezoresistive effect and the field effect.
4. A resonator as defined in claim 1 , wherein one or more gate(s) (is) are in the same plane as the transistor.
5. A resonator as defined in claim 1 , where one or more gate(s) is (are) in a plane parallel to the plane transistor containing the transistor.
6. A resonator as defined in claim 1 , wherein the body transistor comprises a channel stack (7,7′).
7. A resonator as defined in claim 1 , wherein the gates comprise a gate stack (8,8′),
8. A resonator as defined in claim 6 , wherein the stacks are made of dielectric like silicon dioxide or silicon nitride.
9. A resonator as defined in claim 1 , wherein the vibrating body is fixed through elastic connections (6,6′,9) of different stiffnesses to allow different coupling modes and create different frequency characteristics.
10. A resonator as defined in claim 1 , wherein the transistor working principle is not limited to the field effect, but can be based on a different concept, such as (i) tunnel FETs, (ii) impact ionization MOS (with a gate partial overlap on the channel of gated p-i-n diode), (iii) gated Zener diodes (gated p+n+ structures) or (iv) vibrating-dot or vibrating-nanowire Single Electron Transistor.
11. A resonator as defined in claim 1 , wherein the movement is perpendicular with respect to the plane containing the resonator.
12. The resonator of claim 1 , wherein the gates and the body transistor are made of single crystalline silicon or other semiconductor materials, such as poly-silicon.
13. A resonator as defined in claim 1 , wherein it has undergone a surface treatment for passivation, temperature compensation or functionalization to enable a use in different operation conditions.
14. A resonator as defined in claim 13 wherein the surface treatment is thermal oxidation to compensate surface charges.
15. An active MEM resonator filter comprising at least a resonator as defined in claim 1 , with a mechanical filter comprising coupled and/or uncoupled active MEM resonators placed in a topology to create the desired filter shape and input/output impedance, achieving signal amplification in the structure wherein the combination of active and inactive vibrating body FETs increase the design flexibility and are important to achieve a given mode shape in the output current.
16. An active MEM resonator mixer-filter comprising at least a resonator as defined in claim 1 , wherein the filter envelope is given by the mechanical design of the active MEM resonator and can be of higher order, compared to the resonator, wherein the mixing occurs when the difference of the two signals (RF and LO) to be mixed corresponds to the resonance frequency (IF) of the resonator wherein the frequency IF can be generated with different configurations: (i) RF and LO on the same gate(s), (ii) RF on the gate(s), LO on the vibrating body, (iii) RF and LO on separate gates, making use of surface potential in small vibrating body transistor.
17. An active MEM resonator oscillator comprising at least a resonator as defined in claim 1 , where the oscillator circuit loop includes an amplification and/or amplitude control circuit, wherein the circuit may serve different purposes, such as a reducing the start-up time of the oscillator, limiting the amplitude of the oscillator and/or amplification of the signal to sustain the oscillation.
18. An active MEM resonator oscillator comprising at least a resonator as defined in claim 1 , where the oscillator circuit loop does not include an amplification and/or amplitude control circuit in the signal loop, wherein the gain of the active MEM resonator sustains the oscillations; wherein the layout is chosen such that the current signal is converted on a passive element such as the input impedance of the active MEM resonator in a voltage signal and applied on the gate of the active resonator.
19. An active MEM resonator oscillator comprising at least a resonator as defined in claim 1 , where no loop is needed to sustain the oscillation, wherein under specific bias conditions, the device starts to self-oscillate without an external excitation, a sustaining amplifier or a loop connection.
20. An active MEM resonator sensor comprising at least a resonator as defined in claim 1 , wherein the physical quantity to be sensed can be of different origin (e.g. temperature pressure, acceleration and mass), wherein its influence on the active resonator resonance frequency or quality factor is known, wherein the internal amplification provides a current based signal, which is robust to noise and other perturbations.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US12/621,003 US20100171569A1 (en) | 2008-11-18 | 2009-11-18 | Active double or multi gate micro-electro-mechanical device with built-in transistor |
Applications Claiming Priority (4)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US11556608P | 2008-11-18 | 2008-11-18 | |
EP08169367 | 2008-11-18 | ||
EP08169367.3 | 2008-11-18 | ||
US12/621,003 US20100171569A1 (en) | 2008-11-18 | 2009-11-18 | Active double or multi gate micro-electro-mechanical device with built-in transistor |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US20100171569A1 true US20100171569A1 (en) | 2010-07-08 |
Family
ID=41839707
Family Applications (2)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US13/129,280 Active US8872240B2 (en) | 2008-11-18 | 2009-11-18 | Active multi-gate micro-electro-mechanical device with built-in transistor |
US12/621,003 Abandoned US20100171569A1 (en) | 2008-11-18 | 2009-11-18 | Active double or multi gate micro-electro-mechanical device with built-in transistor |
Family Applications Before (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US13/129,280 Active US8872240B2 (en) | 2008-11-18 | 2009-11-18 | Active multi-gate micro-electro-mechanical device with built-in transistor |
Country Status (3)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (2) | US8872240B2 (en) |
TW (1) | TW201110545A (en) |
WO (1) | WO2010058351A1 (en) |
Cited By (13)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20090184783A1 (en) * | 2008-01-23 | 2009-07-23 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | Resonant structure comprising wire, resonant tunneling transistor, and method for fabricating the resonant structure |
US20110049650A1 (en) * | 2009-08-28 | 2011-03-03 | Sandip Tiwari | Electro-Mechanical Transistor |
US20110095267A1 (en) * | 2009-10-26 | 2011-04-28 | International Business Machines Corporation | Nanowire Stress Sensors and Stress Sensor Integrated Circuits, Design Structures for a Stress Sensor Integrated Circuit, and Related Methods |
US20110298553A1 (en) * | 2008-11-18 | 2011-12-08 | Mihai Adrian Ionescu | Active multi-gate micro-electro-mechanical device with built-in transistor |
US20130064005A1 (en) * | 2011-09-09 | 2013-03-14 | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, K.U. Leuven R&D | Tunnel transistor, logical gate comprising the transistor, static random-access memory using the logical gate and method for making such a tunnel transistor |
US20140203796A1 (en) * | 2012-08-17 | 2014-07-24 | Purdue Research Foundation | Nanoelectromechanical resonators |
WO2014158180A1 (en) * | 2013-03-28 | 2014-10-02 | Intel Corporation | Multigate resonant channel transistor |
US20150137068A1 (en) * | 2012-04-19 | 2015-05-21 | Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (Epfl) | Junctionless nano-electro-mechanical resonant transistor |
US9159710B2 (en) | 2010-12-01 | 2015-10-13 | Cornell University | Structures and methods for electrically and mechanically linked monolithically integrated transistor and NEMS/MEMS device |
US20180138276A1 (en) * | 2016-11-14 | 2018-05-17 | Int Tech Co., Ltd. | Semiconductor device having a multi-terminal transistor layout |
TWI658592B (en) * | 2014-07-21 | 2019-05-01 | 南韓商三星電子股份有限公司 | Thermionically-overdriven tunnel fets and methods of fabricating and operating the same |
US10483875B2 (en) | 2013-11-20 | 2019-11-19 | Industrial Technology Research Institute | Surface elastic wave generator, transceiver, and generation method thereof |
WO2021123992A1 (en) * | 2019-12-17 | 2021-06-24 | International Business Machines Corporation | Hybrid sensor including plasmonic resonator |
Families Citing this family (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US8704314B2 (en) * | 2007-12-06 | 2014-04-22 | Massachusetts Institute Of Technology | Mechanical memory transistor |
FR3046153A1 (en) | 2015-12-24 | 2017-06-30 | Commissariat Energie Atomique | SYSTEM HAVING SURFACE DENSITY OF INCREASED MICROELECTROMECHANICAL AND / OR NANOELECTROMECHANICAL DEVICES |
DE102017216007A1 (en) * | 2017-09-12 | 2019-03-14 | Robert Bosch Gmbh | Apparatus and method for processing a sensor signal |
CN112956030A (en) * | 2018-10-09 | 2021-06-11 | 美光科技公司 | Semiconductor device including transistor with increased threshold voltage and related methods and systems |
Citations (11)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4858096A (en) * | 1987-04-07 | 1989-08-15 | Hitachi, Ltd. | Resonant converter for stabilized operation of switching devices |
US5103279A (en) * | 1990-10-18 | 1992-04-07 | Motorola, Inc. | Field effect transistor with acceleration dependent gain |
US5541437A (en) * | 1994-03-15 | 1996-07-30 | Nippondenso Co., Ltd. | Acceleration sensor using MIS-like transistors |
US20020121690A1 (en) * | 1987-06-24 | 2002-09-05 | Hitachi, Ltd. (Jp) | Semiconductor memory module having double-sided stacked memory chip layout |
US6458695B1 (en) * | 2001-10-18 | 2002-10-01 | Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. | Methods to form dual metal gates by incorporating metals and their conductive oxides |
US20030006861A1 (en) * | 2001-06-29 | 2003-01-09 | Taussig Carl P. | Electrically-coupled mechanical band-pass filter |
US20030173611A1 (en) * | 2000-06-21 | 2003-09-18 | Andreas Bertz | Vertical transistor comprising a mobile gate and a method for the production thereof |
US20050139929A1 (en) * | 2003-12-30 | 2005-06-30 | Rost Timothy A. | Transistor design and layout for performance improvement with strain |
US20070222541A1 (en) * | 2004-04-28 | 2007-09-27 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd | Electromechanical Filter |
US20080185271A1 (en) * | 2005-08-02 | 2008-08-07 | Sergio Osvaldo Valenzuela | Method and Apparatus for Bending Electrostatic Switch |
US20090026882A1 (en) * | 2005-09-30 | 2009-01-29 | Nxp B.V. | Oscillator based on piezoresistive resonators |
Family Cites Families (9)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
WO1994014240A1 (en) | 1992-12-11 | 1994-06-23 | The Regents Of The University Of California | Microelectromechanical signal processors |
US6628177B2 (en) | 2000-08-24 | 2003-09-30 | The Regents Of The University Of Michigan | Micromechanical resonator device and micromechanical device utilizing same |
US6985051B2 (en) * | 2002-12-17 | 2006-01-10 | The Regents Of The University Of Michigan | Micromechanical resonator device and method of making a micromechanical device |
US7176770B2 (en) | 2004-08-24 | 2007-02-13 | Georgia Tech Research Corp. | Capacitive vertical silicon bulk acoustic resonator |
JP4961219B2 (en) | 2006-01-31 | 2012-06-27 | パナソニック株式会社 | Parametric resonator and filter using the same |
FR2901263B1 (en) | 2006-05-18 | 2008-10-03 | Commissariat Energie Atomique | MOTION-SENSITIVE DEVICE COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE TRANSISTOR |
WO2008151320A1 (en) * | 2007-06-08 | 2008-12-11 | The Regents Of The University Of Michigan | Resonator system such as a microresonator system and method of making same |
WO2009076534A1 (en) | 2007-12-11 | 2009-06-18 | Cornell University | Resonant body transistor and oscillator |
TW201110545A (en) * | 2008-11-18 | 2011-03-16 | Ecole Polytech | Active multi gate micro-electro-mechanical device with built-in transistor |
-
2009
- 2009-11-18 TW TW98139087A patent/TW201110545A/en unknown
- 2009-11-18 WO PCT/IB2009/055143 patent/WO2010058351A1/en active Application Filing
- 2009-11-18 US US13/129,280 patent/US8872240B2/en active Active
- 2009-11-18 US US12/621,003 patent/US20100171569A1/en not_active Abandoned
Patent Citations (11)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4858096A (en) * | 1987-04-07 | 1989-08-15 | Hitachi, Ltd. | Resonant converter for stabilized operation of switching devices |
US20020121690A1 (en) * | 1987-06-24 | 2002-09-05 | Hitachi, Ltd. (Jp) | Semiconductor memory module having double-sided stacked memory chip layout |
US5103279A (en) * | 1990-10-18 | 1992-04-07 | Motorola, Inc. | Field effect transistor with acceleration dependent gain |
US5541437A (en) * | 1994-03-15 | 1996-07-30 | Nippondenso Co., Ltd. | Acceleration sensor using MIS-like transistors |
US20030173611A1 (en) * | 2000-06-21 | 2003-09-18 | Andreas Bertz | Vertical transistor comprising a mobile gate and a method for the production thereof |
US20030006861A1 (en) * | 2001-06-29 | 2003-01-09 | Taussig Carl P. | Electrically-coupled mechanical band-pass filter |
US6458695B1 (en) * | 2001-10-18 | 2002-10-01 | Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. | Methods to form dual metal gates by incorporating metals and their conductive oxides |
US20050139929A1 (en) * | 2003-12-30 | 2005-06-30 | Rost Timothy A. | Transistor design and layout for performance improvement with strain |
US20070222541A1 (en) * | 2004-04-28 | 2007-09-27 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd | Electromechanical Filter |
US20080185271A1 (en) * | 2005-08-02 | 2008-08-07 | Sergio Osvaldo Valenzuela | Method and Apparatus for Bending Electrostatic Switch |
US20090026882A1 (en) * | 2005-09-30 | 2009-01-29 | Nxp B.V. | Oscillator based on piezoresistive resonators |
Cited By (25)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20090184783A1 (en) * | 2008-01-23 | 2009-07-23 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | Resonant structure comprising wire, resonant tunneling transistor, and method for fabricating the resonant structure |
US8120015B2 (en) * | 2008-01-23 | 2012-02-21 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | Resonant structure comprising wire and resonant tunneling transistor |
US8872240B2 (en) * | 2008-11-18 | 2014-10-28 | Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (Epfl) | Active multi-gate micro-electro-mechanical device with built-in transistor |
US20110298553A1 (en) * | 2008-11-18 | 2011-12-08 | Mihai Adrian Ionescu | Active multi-gate micro-electro-mechanical device with built-in transistor |
US20110049650A1 (en) * | 2009-08-28 | 2011-03-03 | Sandip Tiwari | Electro-Mechanical Transistor |
US8080839B2 (en) * | 2009-08-28 | 2011-12-20 | Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. | Electro-mechanical transistor |
US8614492B2 (en) * | 2009-10-26 | 2013-12-24 | International Business Machines Corporation | Nanowire stress sensors, stress sensor integrated circuits, and design structures for a stress sensor integrated circuit |
US20130145857A1 (en) * | 2009-10-26 | 2013-06-13 | International Business Machines Corporation | Nanowire stress sensors and stress sensor integrated circuits, design structures for a stress sensor integrated circuit, and related methods |
US20110095267A1 (en) * | 2009-10-26 | 2011-04-28 | International Business Machines Corporation | Nanowire Stress Sensors and Stress Sensor Integrated Circuits, Design Structures for a Stress Sensor Integrated Circuit, and Related Methods |
US8835191B2 (en) * | 2009-10-26 | 2014-09-16 | International Business Machines Corporation | Nanowire stress sensors and stress sensor integrated circuits, design structures for a stress sensor integrated circuit, and related methods |
US9159710B2 (en) | 2010-12-01 | 2015-10-13 | Cornell University | Structures and methods for electrically and mechanically linked monolithically integrated transistor and NEMS/MEMS device |
US8576614B2 (en) * | 2011-09-09 | 2013-11-05 | Imec | Tunnel transistor, logical gate including the transistor, static random-access memory using the logical gate and method for making such a tunnel transistor |
US20130064005A1 (en) * | 2011-09-09 | 2013-03-14 | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, K.U. Leuven R&D | Tunnel transistor, logical gate comprising the transistor, static random-access memory using the logical gate and method for making such a tunnel transistor |
US9397285B2 (en) * | 2012-04-19 | 2016-07-19 | Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (Epfl) | Junctionless nano-electro-mechanical resonant transistor |
US20150137068A1 (en) * | 2012-04-19 | 2015-05-21 | Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (Epfl) | Junctionless nano-electro-mechanical resonant transistor |
US20140203796A1 (en) * | 2012-08-17 | 2014-07-24 | Purdue Research Foundation | Nanoelectromechanical resonators |
WO2014158180A1 (en) * | 2013-03-28 | 2014-10-02 | Intel Corporation | Multigate resonant channel transistor |
US9294035B2 (en) | 2013-03-28 | 2016-03-22 | Intel Corporation | Multigate resonant channel transistor |
GB2533668A (en) * | 2013-03-28 | 2016-06-29 | Intel Corp | Multigate resonant channel transistor |
GB2533668B (en) * | 2013-03-28 | 2020-05-13 | Intel Corp | Multigate resonant channel transistor |
US10483875B2 (en) | 2013-11-20 | 2019-11-19 | Industrial Technology Research Institute | Surface elastic wave generator, transceiver, and generation method thereof |
TWI658592B (en) * | 2014-07-21 | 2019-05-01 | 南韓商三星電子股份有限公司 | Thermionically-overdriven tunnel fets and methods of fabricating and operating the same |
US20180138276A1 (en) * | 2016-11-14 | 2018-05-17 | Int Tech Co., Ltd. | Semiconductor device having a multi-terminal transistor layout |
US10600351B2 (en) * | 2016-11-14 | 2020-03-24 | Int Tech Co., Ltd. | Semiconductor device having a multi-terminal transistor layout |
WO2021123992A1 (en) * | 2019-12-17 | 2021-06-24 | International Business Machines Corporation | Hybrid sensor including plasmonic resonator |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
TW201110545A (en) | 2011-03-16 |
US20110298553A1 (en) | 2011-12-08 |
US8872240B2 (en) | 2014-10-28 |
WO2010058351A1 (en) | 2010-05-27 |
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
US8872240B2 (en) | Active multi-gate micro-electro-mechanical device with built-in transistor | |
US7358648B2 (en) | Torsion resonator and filter using this | |
US8624337B2 (en) | Resonant body transistor and oscillator | |
US7319372B2 (en) | In-plane mechanically coupled microelectromechanical tuning fork resonators | |
US6909221B2 (en) | Piezoelectric on semiconductor-on-insulator microelectromechanical resonators | |
US6930569B2 (en) | Micromechanical resonator having short support beams | |
US20090194830A1 (en) | Semiconductor device transducer and method | |
US8044556B2 (en) | Highly efficient, charge depletion-mediated, voltage-tunable actuation efficiency and resonance frequency of piezoelectric semiconductor nanoelectromechanical systems resonators | |
Ollier et al. | Ultra-scaled high-frequency single-crystal Si NEMS resonators and their front-end co-integration with CMOS for high sensitivity applications | |
KR101400238B1 (en) | Resonant structure comprising wire, resonant tunneling transistor, and method for fabricating the resonant structure | |
US11031937B2 (en) | Dual electro-mechanical oscillator for dynamically reprogrammable logic gate | |
CN104052430B (en) | Micro-electro-mechanical resonator | |
US9397285B2 (en) | Junctionless nano-electro-mechanical resonant transistor | |
JP5225840B2 (en) | Vibrator, resonator using the same, and electromechanical filter using the same | |
US9017561B2 (en) | Piezo-resistive MEMS resonator | |
US8841818B2 (en) | Piezoelectric electromechanical devices | |
Samarao et al. | Self-polarized capacitive silicon micromechanical resonators via charge trapping | |
Wang et al. | An unreleased mm-wave resonant body transistor | |
JP5618374B2 (en) | Mechanical resonator | |
Liang et al. | An RF-MEMS-resonator-driven graphene transistor | |
Lovera et al. | Active NEM filters for communications applications based on vibrating body transistors | |
Ollier et al. | Active NEMS combining a single crystal silicon mechanical structure and an embedded MOSFET transistor for sensing and RF applications | |
JP2005229564A (en) | Semiconductor device | |
Ciressan | Nanogap MEM resonators on SOI |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
AS | Assignment |
Owner name: ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE (EPFL), S Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:IONESCU, MIHAI ADRIAN;GROGG, DANIEL;REEL/FRAME:023601/0551 Effective date: 20091125 |
|
STCB | Information on status: application discontinuation |
Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION |