Departmental Papers (ESE)
Abstract
This paper reports on the first demonstration of a 1.05-GHz microelectromechanical (MEMS) oscillator based on lateral-field-excited (LFE) piezoelectric AlN contour-mode resonators. The oscillator shows a phase noise level of −81 dBc/Hz at 1-kHz offset frequency and a phase noise floor of −146 dBc/Hz, which satisfies the global system for mobile communications (GSM) requirements for ultra-high frequency (UHF) local oscillators (LO). The circuit was fabricated in the AMI semiconductor (AMIS) 0.5-μm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process, with the oscillator core consuming only 3.5 mW DC power. The device overall performance has the best figure-of-merit (FoM) when compared with other gigahertz oscillators that are based on film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR), surface acoustic wave (SAW), and CMOS on-chip inductor and capacitor (CMOS LC) technologies. A simple 2-mask process was used to fabricate the LFE AlN resonators operating between 843 MHz and 1.64 GHz with simultaneously high Q (up to 2,200) and kt2 (up to 1.2%). This process further relaxes manufacturing tolerances and improves yield. All these advantages make these devices suitable for post-CMOS integrated on-chip direct gigahertz frequency synthesis in reconfigurable multiband wireless communications.
Document Type
Conference Paper
Date of this Version
1-1-2010
Publication Source
IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control
Start Page
82
Last Page
87
Date Posted: 13 July 2010
Comments
Suggested Citation:
Chengjie Zuo, Jan Van der Spiegel, and Gianluca Piazza. "1.05-GHz CMOS Oscillator Based on Lateral-Field-Excited Piezoelectric AlN Contour-Mode MEMS Resonators" IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control 57.1 (2010): 82-87.
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