Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
A Thesis
By
*****
Assiut University
Thesis Advisors:
Dr. Mohamed Abbas
Dr. Harrie Tilmans
Prof. Mohamed Abdelgawad
2013
c Copyright by
Mohamed Zanaty
2013
The Thesis of Mohamed Zanaty is approved.
May 9, 2013
Assiut University
iii
ABSTRACT
tive, and rapid detection of pathogenic and genetic diseases. Currently, most DNA
bio-sensors use fluorescent labels to visualize DNA binding, but they are complicated,
lent opportunity for label-less bio-molecular sensing. Micro/ nano scale free standing
mechanical structures can be made to react upon analyte binding and can thus be
used for molecular detection. For instance, the mass of micro-mechanical resonators
changes upon surface grafting of biological entities of interest. The shift in mass
causes a resonance frequency variation, allowing the recognition of the desired ana-
lyte.
Considering these features of mechanical resonators, we selected two routes for im-
proving the resonator bio-performance. Firstly, we report the design, modeling and
acoustic wave (BAW) resonator operated under ambient pressure condition. To the
best of our knowledge, it is the first time that the MEMA BAW resonator is used for
the BAW bar type resonator surface, our MeMa resonator offers an increased surface
area-to-volume ratio and lower mass. Despite its quality factor drop due to these
iv
holes, the MEMA resonator still shows a sufficiently high Q-factor for bio-sensing
applications; moreover, it retains the motional resistance of the full BAW resonator
(same footprint non-perforated bar). On the processing side, the added perforations
are expected to enhance the chance of the sensed bio-molecules to diffuse to the lower
face of the bar and more likely reduce stiction during the functionalization procedure.
Mainly, we have shown experimentally and numerically that MEMA BAW resonators
have a 5 times higher bio-sensitivity compared to the typical BAW resonators for the
provides a higher chance for nano-forces to prevail. We report the design and mod-
van der Waals forces. We have shown that these nano-scale forces affect the resonance
frequency, critical amplitude and energy storage capability of the resonator, proving
Finally, we present new designs of micro / nano scale resonators based on the Koch
fractal cells to further increase the resonator surface area to volume ratio. Moreover,
these designs retain a higher quality factor compared to the previously described
structures. They are currently under fabrication at imec SiGe 4um and 50 nm plat-
forms.
v
To my dear family and the soul of my grandfather
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
manufacturing Applications (CENA), Saudi Arabia, for the generous scholarship un-
der which the research reported in this thesis was conducted. CENA is a consortium
of King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology (KACST) and Intel Corporation.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
Dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Chapters:
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Motivations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Thesis contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Thesis outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 N / MEM resonators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.1 Flexural Based Resonators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.2 Extensional Bulk Acoustic Based Resonators . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 N / MEM Resonator Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3.1 Mechanical Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.2 Electrodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.3 Tethers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.4 Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4 Transduction mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
viii
2.4.1 Capacitive Transduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.4.2 Piezo-resistive Transduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4.3 Piezo-electric Transduction: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.4.4 Thermal Transduction: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.5 RLC equivalent circuit model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.6 Damping techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.6.1 Viscous Damping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.6.2 Anchor Damping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.6.3 Thermo-elastic Damping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.7 Non-linearity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.8 Intermolecular Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.9 Meta-material based BAW resonators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.10 Fabrication Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3. Bio-sensing Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.2 Types of bio-sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.2.1 Electrochemical bio-sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.2.2 Optical sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.2.3 Mechanical sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.3 Bio-sensitivity enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4. Experimental Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.2 Double Clamped Beams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5.2.1 Analytical model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
5.2.2 Numerical Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.3 NEM resonators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.3.1 Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.4 Meta-material BAW resonators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.4.1 Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.4.2 Bio-sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5.5 Sensing Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
ix
6. Results and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6.2 Double Clamped Beams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6.2.1 Analytical model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
6.3 NEM resonators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
6.3.1 Static Analysis and Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
6.3.2 Linear Harmonic Analysis and Response . . . . . . . . . . . 100
6.3.3 Nonlinear Harmonic Analysis and Response . . . . . . . . . 101
6.3.4 Casimir Versus van der Waals force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.3.5 Study Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.4 Meta-material BAW resonators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
6.4.1 Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
6.4.2 Bio-sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.4.3 Experimental verification of bio-sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . 117
6.5 New Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
6.5.1 MEM resonators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
6.5.2 NEM Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.6 Sensing Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
x
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
6.2 Extracted harmonic response parameters for MEM BAW bar type res-
onators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
6.4 Surface area to volume ratio for different order of fractal cells. . . . . 119
xi
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
2.3 Different configurations for BAW resonators (a) Beam resonator [3] . 12
2.5 Schematic diagram for BAW bar type resonator suspended by T-support
showing its main components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.10 Block diagram showing the MEM resonator interaction with the sur-
rounding fluid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
xii
2.12 Perforated beam resonator for reduced air damping. . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.15 Simulated anchor limited quality factor for bar-type T supported BAW
resonator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.17 A schematic diagram for a DCB under the influence of nano-scale forces. 35
2.18 SEM image of MEMA based BAW resonator with different perforation
densities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.19 The cross section of the MEMS process of the 4 [um] thick SiGe platform. 38
2.20 Thick poly SiGe platform for MEMS processing (step by step). . . . . 39
2.21 The process cross section for the NEM platform (100 nm). . . . . . . 40
xiii
3.7 Dynamic electro-mechanical bio-sensor(a) Functionlized cantilever and
(b) Resonant cantilever with added bio-molecules. . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.1 Measurement setup for the bar resonators using the network analyzer. 58
4.2 The main parts of the system used for measuring the bar resonators. 58
4.3 Measured and fitted S21 parameters for full BAW bar type resonators. 59
5.2 A single degree of freedom model with mass m, stiffness k and damper
c, representing an electrostatically driven resonator with a transduction
gap d0 and overlap surface area with the electrode Sa . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.5 A static pull test for a unit cell of BAW bar type MEM resonator. . . 81
5.6 Bar cross section showing different air viscous damping mechanisms. . 82
5.7 COMSOL setup for the calculation of the motional resistance of MEMA
based BAW bar type resonators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.8 Equivalent circuit through which the equivalent parameters are extracted. 84
6.1 Effect of the beam length on the air viscous friction with the resonator. 89
6.2 Effect of the beam width on the air viscous friction with the resonator. 91
6.3 Effect of the beam thickness on the air viscous friction with the resonator. 92
xiv
6.4 Effect of the gap height on the air viscous friction with the resonator. 93
6.5 Effect of the Youngs modulus on the air viscous friction with the
resonator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
6.6 Effect of the beam density on the air viscous friction with the resonator. 96
6.7 Effect of the mode shape on the air viscous friction with the resonator. 97
6.8 Numerical and analytical computed quality factor and resonance fre-
quency for different modes of DCB resonators.The first column is the
resonator displacement and the second one represents the pressure dis-
tribution across the bar. The red and blue colors denote the maximum
and minimum values respectively. Tables show the match between
numerical and analytical computations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
6.16 COMSOL simulation for the air velocity surrounding the MEMA based
resonator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
xv
6.17 COMSOL simulation of the air pressure along the transduction gap of
the MEMA based resonator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
6.18 Air limited Q-factor of the meta-material based resonator versus the
perforation size with a perforation pitch of 5 m, computed numerically
and experimentally. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
6.19 Motional resistance variation versus the DC applied voltage for differ-
ent perforation densities computed experimentally and numerically. . 111
6.20 Equivalent circuit for which the equivalent parameters are extracted. 112
6.23 FOM of MEMA resonators versus the hole size for different perforation
pitch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
6.24 FOM for different perforation pitches of MEMA BAW bar type resonator.116
6.27 DCB resonators with different fractal cells. The inset is a magnification
of the perforation shape on the beam. The designation of the 1,2,3 and
4 labeled structures are given in Table 6.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
6.28 Capacitive extensional BAW resonators with different unit cells. The
inset is a magnification of the perforation shape on the beam. The
designation of the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 labeled structures are given in
Table 6.6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
6.30 Different anchoring schemes for lame mode resonators. The designation
of the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 labeled structures are given in Table 6.7 123
xvi
6.31 Different electrode configurations for NEM cantilevers. . . . . . . . . 125
xvii
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Motivations
Over the past decades, the Middle East region faced many life challenges on
economical, educational and political fronts. Due to the difficult economical situation
of these countries, the human capital is considered as the main source for solving
these problems. However, there are many risks threaten this important resource as
epidemic diseases, contaminated water and polluted air. The Middle East had the
highest infection rate of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in 2012, based on WHO report [1].
Figure 1.1 shows the distribution of the HCV infection across the world in 2005 [1].
It is readily seen that the infections are widely spread in the Middle East and central
Africa. HCV highly decreases the person productivity and reduce ability to perform
work. According to the Egyptian ministry of health, Egypt has around 11 million
infections increasing annually by 150 thousand cases out of 150 million infections
worldwide [5]. This represents the highest infection rate worldwide, around 15% [2].
Unfortunately, around 75-85% of the infections are developed into chronic diseases
and 60-70% of the chronically infected people develop chronic liver disease. Moreover,
5 -20% develop cirrhosis and 1-5% die from either cirrhosis or liver cancer. HCV also
1
There are several difficulties in facing the HCV. On the diagnosis level, the HCV is
often missed because the majority of the people have no symptoms. Blood analysis
is needed for HCV antibodies detection. Even though, antibody detection doesnt
differentiate between acute and chronic infections. Therefore, RNA testing is needed
The HCV is most commonly transmitted through the exposure to infectious blood,
Therefore, the risk of infection can be highly reduced through avoiding unsafe blood
sources and ensure using sterilized injection tools. Even, in the case of the infection,
the detection of the virus within the incubation period (6 month) highly increases the
2
Considering the difficulty of detection and prevention of HCV, there is an urgent
need for finding a sensitive method or technique for early virus detection, selective
for the correct diagnosis of the virus, low cost and fast.
Another challenge, facing Africa, is the water pollution. The Nile river in Africa is
one of the most contaminated rivers in the world. Most of the death cases due to
contaminated water occurs in Africa as shown in Fig. 1.2 [2]. Therefore, proper bio-
Figure 1.2: Death rate distribution worldwide due to water contamination [2].
For example, lateral flow essays (LFA) offer fast (minutes) but non-sensitive detec-
tion mechanism. on the other hand, enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA)
give sensitive (down to pico-molar(pM)) concentration but long detection time (hours)
[6].
3
This thesis is concerned with the design and performance analysis of a sensitive and
onator.
type bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator as the basis for the biosensor, we took
two routes. From the design perspective, the resonator was perforated to increase its
surface area to volume ratio. Fractal based cells are also utilized within the BAW
resonator to further increase its overall surface area to volume ratio. This effort led
to sensor bio performance enhancement of 6 times than the conventional bar type
The second route taken focused on improving the bio-performance of the MEM res-
onator through enhancing its electromechanical performance. This was done by lever-
aging the fabrication process technology. From that perspective, we designed and
analytical model for estimating the effect of intermolecular forces, such as Casimir
4
Designing, modeling, optimizing and characterizing MEMA based BAW bar
type resonators and comparing its performance with the conventional bar type
resonator.
50 [nm] .
Casimir and van der Waals forces, on the harmonic response of the resonator
Designing of fractal based BAW bar type resonator for biosensing applications
including the equivalent circuit principle are also discussed. The different loss mecha-
nism along with a literature survey of the prior work on the modeling of these losses,
through a discussion of the intermolecular forces and their impact on the performance
of the resonator, are presented and explained. The chapter ends by introducing the
In Chapter 3, we introduce the concept of bio-sensing and compare the different bio-
compare between the static and the dynamic modes of mechanical biosensor and ex-
plain the advantages of the mechanical bio-sensing approach over the other detection
techniques.
The experimental setup used for measuring the bio-sensitivity of the MEM resonator
5
is presented in Chapter 4. We also present and discuss the different steps for the
A model for the flexural resonators and an estimate for its Q-factor and resonance
frequency both analytically and numerically under ambient pressure condition, are
firstly introduced in Chapter 5. After that, we present an analytical model for the
impact of the intermolecular forces on the behaviour of the NEM resonator. Then,
chapter 6, we present and discuss the results obtained from the application of the
effect of varying the resonator dimensions and material properties on its performance
under ambient pressure condition. Then, we present the effect of the perforation on
the mechanical properties of the bar, quality factor, bio-sensitivity and the minimum
detectable mass is presented. Moreover, the optimum hole size is determined for a
given perforation pitch. The numerical results are validated using experimental mea-
surements. Then, we introduce our new designs for both flexural and bulk BAW
resonators featuring thickness of 4 m and 50 nm. Fractal cells were used to increase
total surface area to volume ratio of the resonator. Finally, we present the simulation
for a sensing circuit to be used for our the read out section of the biosensor.
In chapter 7, we conclude the thesis work and present a prospective on future work
6
CHAPTER 2
2.1 Introduction
other frequencies as depicted in Fig. 2.1 .The number of the resonance frequencies
depend on the system degree of freedom (DOF). The oscillation itself can be either
electromagnetic or mechanical. For this thesis, we are concerned with the micro -
a case, resonance depends on the resonator mass and stiffness. However, the sensing
and the actuation are performed through the electrical signals enabling the resonator
defined as the square root of the mass to the stiffness ratio as shown by Eq.
(2.1). It depends on the resonator material, shape and dimensions. The higher
7
Figure 2.1: The harmonic response of a mechanical resonator.
Quality factor (Q-factor):It defines the band of frequencies around the res-
other words, it defines the sharpness of the resonance peak, given in Fig. 2.1.
The sharper the peak is, the higher the quality factor. Q-factor is an important
onators have a higher sensitivity and lower phase noise. Q-factor is the energy
stored within the resonator divided by the energy dissipated within one cycle [8]
as given in Eq. (2.2). Various losses mechanisms limit the resonator Q-factor
such as the anchor losses, viscous damping and material losses [9]. These losses
will be discussed in more details in section 2.6. For sensitive mechanical based
8
bio-sensor, high Q-factor is needed.
1 Energy stored
Q= (2.2)
2 Energy loss per cycle
the resonance. The lower the motional resistance, the higher the resonance
peak is. A low motional resistance resonator can be easily identified due to its
mechanical losses and the applied electrical signals used for actuation.
bration amplitudes. Beyond this range, the harmonic behaviour of the resonator
become distorted and out of range signals will be generated. For biosensor, the
wider the linear region is, the more dynamic range the resonator will have [10].
case of the parallel plate resonator [11]. More details of the main limits of the
These resonators are mostly beams with rectangular cross section, as illustrated
in Fig. 2.2. The resonator is actuated by applying a force on the lower face of the
beam. Such force results in a bending motion. The most common configuration of
these resonators are clamped free ( cantilevers ) and DCBs. A third configuration is
the free - free beam where the beam is fixed by torsional tethers at the nodal points.
9
Figure 2.2: Common configurations for flexural beam resonators.
In general, the aforementioned resonators posses a low Q-factor. Therefore, they are
replaced by bulk resonators in many applications. However, such resonators are still
popular in bio-sensing applications due to their lower mass and lower motional resis-
tance [6]. The resonance frequency of flexural resonators depends on its length (l),
thickness(t) and material( Youngs modulusE and density ) as given in the following
s
n2 EI
fn,res = (2.3)
l2 A
cos(n )cosh(n ) = 1 and cos(n )cosh(n ) = 1 for the DCBs and cantilevers, re-
spectively [7].
10
2.2.2 Extensional Bulk Acoustic Based Resonators
The extensional bulk mode resonators can take many forms such as disk [12], bar
[13] or beams [14] as shown in Figs 2.3. The principle of operation depends on the
propagation of acoustic wave back and forth within the structural layer of these res-
onators, resulting in extensional motion. These kinds of resonators are much stiffer
than flexural resonator. Thus, they show higher resonance frequency and offer larger
energy storage capability, which means, high quality factor (> 1000). The resonance
rial parameters. The resonance frequency for a BAW bar resonators can be given by
the following equation where E is the resonator Youngs modulus, is the resonator
s
1 E
fn,res = (2.4)
2W
There are other modes than the extensional for BAW resonators. One of the well
known modes is the Lame mode shown in Fig. 2.4 ,where the acoustic wave travels
around the resonator circumference [15] [16]. For our thesis, we are interested in both
Fig. 2.5. For the design and the optimization of the resonator performance, the
11
Figure 2.3: Different configurations for BAW resonators (a) Beam resonator [3]
(b)Disk resonator [12] (c) Extensional bar resonator [17].
specifications.
Figure 2.4: Simulated displacement of BAW bar type resonators operated in (a) ex-
tensional mode (b) Lame mode where red and blue represent maximum and minimum
displacement, respectively.
12
2.3.1 Mechanical Structure
It represents the main mechanical vibrating part. The material, dimensions and
the resonator material defines the linear range of the resonator and the thermo-elastic
losses.
2.3.2 Electrodes
The electrodes are the interface between the resonator and the surrounding sur-
trodes form a parallel plate capacitor with the resonator [18]. This capacitor is consid-
domains. The first electrode, known as actuation electrode, is the one responsible for
the resonator actuation. The driving signal is applied to this electrode. The second
one is known as the sensing electrode, through which the resonator mechanical mo-
tion is sensed and converted into electrical signal. The separation distance between
the resonator and the electrodes along with the DC applied voltage (quadratic depen-
dence) are very critical in the determination of the motional resistance / transduction
efficiency [19].
2.3.3 Tethers
These are the connecting beams between the resonator structure and the substrate.
the substrate to avoid falling. However, direct connection to the substrate will impede
the resonator motion, deform the mode shape and degrade the quality factor through
the acoustic energy emission in the substrate [20] [21]. This shows the importance of
13
the tether design. Normally, the tethers are thin beams connected to the minimum
motional points (nodal points). Careful design of the tethers highly improves the
2.3.4 Environment
two loss mechanisms that depends on its surrounding environment. First, friction the
resonator experience during its motion with the surrounding medium. This is consid-
ered as the dominant loss mechanism during operation under atmospheric air pressure
or in a liquid [23]. This kind of losses is known as slide / squeeze film damping, de-
pending mainly on the medium viscosity and the surrounding pressure condition [24]
[25]. This loss mode can be greatly reduced by perforating the resonator in the case
of vertical motion [26]. The second loss mechanism is the acoustic emission. During
the resonator motion, acoustic energy is emitted and absorbed with its vibration in
the surrounding medium [27]. Operation under vacuum condition eliminates this loss
mode and provides a more stable environment for the resonators operation. On the
other hand, vacuum operation requires a reliable packaging methods. Even if pack-
aging is possible, vacuum operation is not compatible for some applications such as
bio-sensing.
electrodes. The structural layer will not move in its own. It needs an external force
14
Figure 2.5: Schematic diagram for BAW bar type resonator suspended by T-support
showing its main components.
to start moving. Similarly, it needs a sensing mechanism to detect its motion. So,
a driving and sensing mechanisms are needed which are known as an actuator and
detector respectively. The basic concept behind both the actuator and the detector is
the conversion between electrical and mechanical domains, which is generally known
used for converting electrical into mechanical signals and vice versa, as shown in Fig.
formed with the resonator. This voltage will result in an electro-static force leading
to the mechanical motion of the resonator in accordance with Eq. (2.5) [9].
Sa Vdc2
Felectrostatic = (2.5)
2d20
15
where is the medium permittivity, Sa is the resonator electrode overlap surface area,
Vdc is the applied DC voltage and d0 is the transduction gap height . Increasing the dc
applied voltage (vdc ) increase the electrostatic force. This force increases the resonator
displacement to the point where the resonator collapses on the lower electrode. This
voltage is known as the pull-in voltage (VP I ) and the displacement at which pull-in
occurs is known as the pull-in displacement (XP I ). The pull-in parameters are given
as [8]:
s
kd30 1
VP I = XP I = d0 (2.6)
Sa 3
DC value leads to the beam motion with a given frequency. This motion changes
the transduction gap, in turn, varying the capacitance and modulating the output
current as:
Q vac c
ioutput = = C0 + Vdc (2.7)
t t t
ioutput = if eedthrough + imotional (2.8)
where Q is the resonator total charge and C0 is the resonator static capacitance.
The output current of the resonator has two components. The first component is
due to the static capacitance of the resonator. This component is known as the feed-
depends on the capacitance variation of the resonator with the applied forces. For
easier detection, we are looking for higher motional to feed-through current ratios.
Different transduction techniques are used for enhancing the resonator output current
as dual port transduction, 2nd harmonic transduction and mixing techniques [18].
The main problem with the parallel plate capacitor is the non-linearity imposed by
16
the electrostatic forces. It varies with the square of the reciprocal of the resonator
displacement. This leads to a resonance frequency shift and imposes an upper limit
comb drive resonator. Since the fringing fields are basically linear, the nonlinearity
problem accompanied with the the parallel plate capacitor is eliminated [28]. Another
constrain with capacitive transduction is the need for small gaps to generate enough
forces for actuation. This becomes more obvious for both high frequency resonator
(> 100 M Hz) which are highly stiff structures and nano-scale resonators which has
a small overlap surface area with the actuation electrode [29]. Dielectric filled gap
gaps either solid [30] [16] or liquid materials [31] instead of the air gaps. Thus, we can
obtain a better transduction efficiency for the same DC voltage. However, advanced
It depends on the change in the electrical resistance change in response to the variation
in the strain. The resistance variation is detected through applying a current within
the resonator and monitor its variation with the resonator motion [32]. Since piezo-
resistivity is a material property, not all MEM resonator are detected using this
17
2.4.3 Piezo-electric Transduction:
mechanical into electrical and vice versa. Its operation is based on material piezo-
resistivity which means the conversion of the applied electric field into mechanical
strain. Similarly, the electric field is generated when there is a strain variation along
the resonator [34]. The main advantage of this type of transduction is its higher linear
energy capability is offered [35]. Similar to piezo-resistivity, only resonators made out
pends on heating up and cooling down the resonator. Due to the material thermal
expansion coefficient, the structure will be driven into resonance due to the expansion
and the contraction accompanied with the heating and the cooling of the resonator
respectively. The most convenient way to thermally actuate the resonator is to use
its electrical resistance for thermally actuating it [36] [37]. Also, another methods
such as photonic absorption effects can be used for heating the resonator [38]. It was
found that thermal transduction results in a better efficiency for higher frequencies
nient way for modeling electromechanical resonators. First, it provides single domain
18
(a) Capacitive transduction (b) Piezo-resistive transduction (c) Piezo-electric transduction
representation for MEM devices. Second, it enables the analysis of a mechanical struc-
tures and its connection to electric circuits. Third, it allows the utilization of circuit
simulators for modeling both electrical and mechanical domains [40]. The equivalent
circuit principle is based on the electrical mechanical analogy given in Table 2.1 [9].
The H-resonator shown in Fig. 2.7a can be represented by a single degree of freedom
model. The lumped model consists of a mass (m)connected through four springs (k)
to the substrate with an electrode below it. Figure 2.7b shows the representation of
the resonator according to the SDOF mechanical system [7]. Here m represents the
rigid mass, k represents the stiffness of the four beams, c represents different losses
either viscous or anchor losses to be discussed in the next section. Based on Table 2.1,
the mechanical resonator can be represented electrically as given in Fig. 2.8 where
represents the transduction factor, C0 is the static overlap capacitance and cp denotes
19
(a) Schematic diagram of H-shaped res- (b) SDOF lumped model
onator
Figure 2.8: Electrical equivalent circuit representation for lumped MEM resonator.
For some structures such as the cantilever, the mass and spring arent clearly
Consequently, infinite number of resonance frequencies and modes are expected. Each
mode has different shape which leads to different effective stiffness (kef f ) and effec-
tive mass (mef f ). However, these structures can be represented in terms of lumped
model through using the effective values (kef f , Mef f ) for each mode.These values are
20
Z l
mef f = bh2n (x)dx (2.9)
0
Z l
kef f = n (x)%[n (x)]dx = n2 Mn (2.10)
0
4
%(x) = EI 4 (2.11)
x
Z l
ref f = c2 (x)dx (2.12)
0
Z l
0 Vdc (x)
n = b (2.13)
0 d20
The resonator equivalent circuit for a continuous system is shown in Fig. 2.9. Each
branch represents the resonator equivalent circuit for a given mode, assuming no cou-
The resonator equivalent circuit is used in the design of electrical sensing circuit, as
will be discussed in Chapter 5. Mainly, these circuits detect the resonator displace-
ment through measuring the resonator motional current, converting this current into
voltage. Then, a high gain amplifier is used for generating a readable output signal.
A buffer stage is needed to isolate the driving load from amplifier. Importantly, these
circuits must be a low noise circuit with minimum parasitics to increase the resonator
N / MEM resonators offer much higher Q-factor for kHz / MHz resonance fre-
quency compared to electrical resonators. This high Q-factor can be achieved through
the proper design to minimize the resonator losses. Mainly, there are three types of
losses. First, the anchoring losses that can be optimized through proper tether design
and positioning. Second, the viscous losses that depend on the surrounding medium.
21
Figure 2.9: Electrical equivalent circuit for distributed MEM resonator.
Third, the material losses represented in thermo-elastic damping which puts the up-
per limit for the MEM Q-factor [44]. The total Q-factor can be evaluated from Eq.
(2.14) where Qanchor denotes the anchor losses, QV iscous represents the viscous limited
Q-factor and Qmat is the material limited Q-factor. In addition there are other types
of losses such as the acoustic emission losses which can be neglected compared to the
previous losses.
1 1 1 1
= + + + ... (2.14)
Qtot Qanchor QV iscous Qmat
22
2.6.1 Viscous Damping
Air damping has many manifestations depending on the way the resonator inter-
acts with the surrounding medium i.e. the resonance mode shape, vibration frequency
along with the resonator dimensions and the spacing to the nearby structure e.g. elec-
trodes. Upon actuation, the resonator starts its motion colliding with the surrounding
medium molecules forcing the medium to carry its velocity. Due to the medium vis-
cosity, the resonator losses some energy in moving the air. The higher the viscosity is,
the more the losses are. This moving viscous medium results in an opposite force af-
fecting the resonator performance. MEM operation in a viscous medium can also lead
in block diagram of Fig. 2.10. This frequency shift is attributed to the compression
Moreover, as we move to the nano / micro scale, the surrounding gas molecules in-
teraction with the resonator body become more profound. This condition is known
as the gas rarefaction where the resonator surface acts as a slippery surface affecting
the air velocity profile. Therefore,air inertia, compression and damping are observed
[46] [47].
Since the influence of the air on the resonator behaviour depends on several fac-
tors such as: dimensions, pressure, nearby structure, resonance mode and frequency,
relying on dimensionless numbers to simplify the analysis and to provide solid un-
derstanding, is imperative. The following numbers are commonly used to expect the
Reynolds Number:It defines the ratio between the viscous to the inertial
forces as given in Eq. (2.15) where gas is the gas density, h0 represents the gap
23
Figure 2.10: Block diagram showing the MEM resonator interaction with the sur-
rounding fluid.
to the viscous damping. This is defined in Eq. (2.16) where L is the resonator
defined as the ratio between the mean free path() of the medium molecules
24
Mach Number:It is a ratio between the viscous force due to the resonator
velocity (v) and the acoustic force. This is given by Eq. (2.18) where a is the
v
Ma = (2.18)
a
and the thermal diffusion as given by Eq. (2.19) where cp is the heat capacity
cp ef f
Pr = (2.19)
The air effects are modelled trough solving both the Navier Stokes (NS) equation and
the beam deformation equations. Under certain conditions, the NS equation can be
Squeeze film damping is the viscous loss mechanism for a parallel plate capacitor
resonator [47]. Under the squeeze film damper conditions, the resonator moves in a
perpendicular direction towards the lower electrode, as shown in Fig. 2.11. The mov-
ing surface squeezes the gas film and causes the it to flow to its borders. The squeeze
damping is attributed mainly to the energy lost in the friction between different fluid
layers having unequal velocity. Therefore, the velocity profile plays an important role
in characterizing the air damping. For the ideal case, the velocity profile in the gas
across the gap, is parabolic. At high frequency, the gas is compressed within the gap
25
leading to a change in the resonance frequency of the structure through modifying its
stiffness [24]. Normally, most MEM resonators operate in the slip flow region where
the gas rarefaction must be considered. Veijola treated gas rarefaction through the
principle of effective viscosity. Continuum flow mechanics are used, within slip region
ef f = (2.20)
1 + 9.638Kn1.159
To faithfully model the squeeze film effect, solution of the full NS equation is needed
to be solved. However, for low Reynolds number assuming a constant pressure across
the gap, Reynolds equation is enough for characterizing the resonator damping [49].
Bao et al. solved the Reynolds equation for the parallel plate capacitor evaluating
both the effective air damping and stiffness by Eqs. (2.21) and (2.22) [47]:
n2
64pa A X m2 +
cd = n2 2 2
(2.21)
6 h0 m,nodd (mn)2 [m2 +
] + 4
64 2 pa A X 1
ke = 8 n2 2 2
(2.22)
h0 m,nodd (mn)2 [m2 +
] + 4
where is the squeeze number and A denotes the resonator contact surface.
For High frequency (MHz) with small air gaps (4m), we obtain higher Reynolds
26
number. This highlights the need for considering the gas inertia in our calculations.
Moreover, the resonator acts as an acoustic wave radiator, making the pressure across
the gap no longer constant. In such case, Reynolds equation approximation fails and
the full NS is needed to be solved as given in Veijola acoustic model [50] [51].
A well known approach to reduce the squeeze film damping is by perforating the
resonator as shown in Fig. 2.12 [26]. This gives air the chance to flow out of the
gap and, hereby, reducing the air pressure on the resonator, which in turn, enhances
the Q-factor. On the other hand, the air flow modelling becomes more complicated.
Several models studied the air flow in a perforated parallel plate resonator such as
Veijola Compact Model(VCM) [52], Veijola Numerical Model(VNM) [53] and Mixed
Level Model (MLM) [54] [55] [56]. The MLM is considered the most accurate as its
This type of air damping is dominant for lateral moving resonators as shown in
Fig. 2.13 [25]. It has the same geometry as the squeeze film damper. The difference
is that the resonator moves parallel to the electrode [58] [59]. This resonator motion
results in a shear wave across the gap. Here, the air velocity profile is completely
27
different from the squeeze film damper case. This flow is shown in Fig. 2.13, known
as stokes flow. The damping occurs due to the friction between different viscous gas
Gas rarefaction should also be considered through either the principle of the effective
viscosity or through applying slip boundary condition at the solid fluid interface given
by Maxwells model [60]. Since the velocity pattern is completely different from the
squeeze film damper case, the effective viscosity is expressed by the experimentally
ef f = Kn (2.23)
1 + 2Kn + 0.2Kn0.788 exp 10
Under low Reynolds number, where the inertia force components are neglected, the
full NS equation is reduced to the Stokes equation, Eqs. 2.23 and 2.24 where the
28
However for higher oscillation frequency or larger gaps, the inertial effects becomes
more effective. Different models studied the slide film damping for the lateral comb
resonators and different expressions were concluded for the air losses. Also, reduced
order models can be used for estimating the air losses [61]. However, for certain
cases,the air losses modeling is very complicated due to the distributed nature of the
damping and its is highly impacted by the surrounding environment. This requires
finite element modeling ( FEM ), as in the case of air damping for MEMA based
Anchoring the resonator, especially bar type BAW resonator, is very critical for
the anchor by the means of the tether. The tether shape, dimension and position
play a very important role for the Q-factor estimation. During the resonator motion,
acoustic energy will be emitted by the resonator into the substrate through the tether.
Due to the large substrate size, the whole energy is lost without any reflections [17].
Clever designs can greatly reduce the anchor losses through connecting the resonator
at the nodal resonator points and matching the tether acoustic impedance with the
substrate acoustic impedance. In addition, the tether determines the pull in voltage
for the resonator [22]. Stiff tethers leads to high pull-in voltage. In this thesis, we used
T-support for anchoring our BAW bar type operated in first extensional width mode.
The length of the T-support is selected such that it has the same flexural resonance
frequency as the bar extensional frequency and, at the same time acoustically matched
to the anchor.
29
(a) PML simulating (b) Acoustic waves emitted
the substrate within the substrate
Modeling the anchoring losses for a MEM resonator requires the modeling of the whole
can be used such as the perfectly matching layer (PML) [62][63], shown in Fig. 2.14,
For this thesis, we used the PML method. A PML is a finite element method used
for substrate modelling through the acoustic wave absorption without any reflection.
This requires an acoustic impedance matching between the substrate and the PML
and an imaginary damping coefficient. This is obtained by using a material with the
following imaginary material proprieties, Youngs modulus and density, given by the
E = iE/ = i (2.25)
Using PML, the effect of the T-support length on the resonator Q-factor is shown in
Fig. 2.15. This shows that there is an optimal support length that should be used
30
Figure 2.15: Simulated anchor limited quality factor for bar-type T supported BAW
resonator.
Thermo-elastic losses are related to the physical properties of the resonator itself
not the surrounding medium as the case of viscous damping. These losses were first
explained by Zener [64]. An acoustical wave passing through the structure cause con-
traction and expansion. This motion results in higher temperature at the expansion
will flow from high to low temperature regions. This thermal flow will dissipate a
portion of the resonators stored energy leading to quality factor degradation. Intu-
itively, a high thermal conductivity resonators will suffer more from thermo-elastic
losses. To model these losses numerically, both the mechanical and thermal domain
An important parameter for the resonator is the relaxation time [9]. It is defined as
the time taken by the thermal flow from the expansion to contraction regions. To
31
reduce the impact of the thermo-elastic damping, it is preferred to operate the res-
onator with a frequency higher than the relaxation time. Thus, the resonator changes
2.7 Non-linearity
signal. The higher the resonator displacement, the higher the output voltage is. In
order to increase the resonator output signal to noise ratio, large displacement is
haviour in the resonator harmonic response as illustrated in Fig. 2.16 [66]. This
linearity which depends on the material lattice structure and stiffness tensor [67].
Another source is geometrical non -linearity where the resonance mode shape deter-
mines determines whether such nonlinearity has an impact on the resonator behaviour
or not [11]. Electrical non-linearity is another source of of instability that appears due
to the non-linearity of the electro-static force associated with the resonator displace-
ment as given in Eq. (2.5). As shown in Fig. 2.16, the critical amplitude is defined
estimate the value of the critical amplitude, we write the stiffness expression as given
in Eq. (2.26). Each stiffness term has three components. The critical amplitude is
given by Eq. (2.27) where Q is the resonator quality factor and x is the resonator
32
Figure 2.16: Harmonic behaviour of MEM resonator under different AC voltage show-
ing the instability effects.
k = k0 + k1 x + k2 x2 + k3 x3 + ... (2.26)
s
4
xcritical = p (2.27)
3 (3)Q||
2
3 k2 5 k1
= (2.28)
8 k1 12 k0
more mass sensitivity for a bio-sensor. At the same time, scaling the resonator di-
mensions down to the nano-scale gives a chance for intermolecular force to appear
and play a prominent role on the resonator performance by changing the pull-in pa-
rameters [68][69]. Moreover, these intermolecular forces, presented either in the form
of the Casimir or vdW forces are nonlinear with the resonator displacement result
33
in a spring softening effect [70]. This effect leads to resonance frequency shift and
contributes to limiting the resonator critical amplitude [71]. These nano-scale forces
two nearby surfaces with a separation distance in the range of 100 nm [72]. In our
case, these two conducting surfaces are represented in the resonator and the actuation
/sensing electrode as shown in Fig. 2.17. When the spacing between two surfaces is
lower than the plasma wavelength for the conducting material, the force is simplified
ASa
FvdW = (2.29)
6d3
where A represents the resonator Hamaker constant [73], Sa denotes the resonator
But if the separation distance exceeds the plasma wavelength, the retardation effects
due to the finite speed of the electromagnetic wave propagation becomes more pro-
nounced. In this case, the intermolecular forces are represented by the Casimir force,
which is proportional to the inverse of the fourth power of the separation distance
~c0 Sa
Fcas = (2.30)
240d3
The schematic diagram of Fig. 2.17 a NEM DCB under the influence of both elec-
trostatic and intermolecular forces. Both forces act along the same direction. This
means that intermolecular forces results in more static displacement, resulting in,
better electrostatic transduction. These forces are extremely crucial for the NEM
34
switch applications as discussed in [69]. For the resonator, the force non-linearity is
the main factor affecting the resonator behaviour [70]. Moreover, for vibrating struc-
tures, a time varying intermolecular force component appear. This component may
degrade the resonator overall quality factor through increasing the acoustic emission
In the chapter 5, we have derived an analytical expression for the influence of the
Figure 2.17: A schematic diagram for a DCB under the influence of nano-scale forces.
through proper design. For instance, perforating a bar resonator with uniformly
distributed square holes results in variation in mechanical properties despite the fact
that the structural material is still the same. For the extraction of the mechanical
properties for the material, we can either use the the static pull test [76] or the phase
diagram method [77]. These materials can be used for building BAW resonators
[78]. Since the resonance frequency of BAW depends on the material proprieties,
35
applying the MEMA for BAW resonators offers an additional way for controlling
the resonance frequency through engineering the material proprieties by varying the
perforation density.
In this thesis, we are interested in perforated SiGe material shown in Fig. 2.18
Figure 2.18: SEM image of MEMA based BAW resonator with different perforation
densities.
for several reasons. First, perforating the bulk resonator reduce the poisson ratio,
and consequently, the acoustic emission within the substrate. Second, the perforation
increase the overall surface area to volume ratio [79]. This improves the resonator bio-
On the other side, these added perforations degrade the quality factor [78]. This
drop in quality factor is attributed to the decrease of the energy stored within the
resonator.
for the application of the MEMA based resonator for bio-sensing applications.
36
2.10 Fabrication Process
The fabrication process flow described here is based on imec SiGe technology. In
general, a MEM resonator may be fabricated using many other structural materials
and processing techniques. Focusing on this thesis work, the MEM resonator is made
a promising material for MEMS processing due to its outstanding mechanical prop-
erties, electrical properties and its integrability with CMOS circuit [81]. Figure 2.19
the top of the CMOS circuits. The fabrication process steps are described in Fig.
2.20.
The process of integration starts first with an oxide layer deposited using high den-
sity plasma (HDP) with a thickness of 1 m. Then, an Aluminium (Al) layer with
are defined which will function as inter-connections as given in Fig. 2.20a. Another
oxide layer is then grown on the top of the Al inter-connection using HDP. Chemical
mechanical polishing (CMP) is used to planarize the oxide surface to 400nm as shown
in Fig. 2.20b. After that, a layer of 400nm of silicon carbide (SiC) is deposited for
the protection of the lower metal layer during subsequent processing, as given as in
Fig. 2.20c. Lithography is used to define metal vias to the connection of the MEM
structures to the lower CMOS metal layers. Tungsten (W) is then deposited to fill
vias and followed by CMP process to remove excess W above the via holes, as shown
in Fig. 2.20d.
The next step is to deposit the electrode SiGe layer with a thickness of 400 m using
37
Figure 2.19: The cross section of the MEMS process of the 4 [um] thick SiGe
platform.
chemical vapour deposition (CVD), in Fig. 2.20e. Lithography is then used to define
the SiGe electrode, as shown in Fig. 2.20f. Then, a sacrificial layer of thickness 3m
is deposited on SiGe electrode layer using HDP. Again, lithography is used to define
the trenches for the anchor deposition in Fig. 2.20f. After that, SiGe layer with a
A passivation oxide is then grown on the mechanical SiGe layer in Fig. 2.20h. Lithog-
raphy is used to define the bond pads regions. Aluminium layer of 880 nm thickness
is deposited on the oxide layer to fill the bond pad in Fig. 2.20i. Lithography is used
to define the bond pad paths for the inter-connection, followed by proper etch and
clear steps, Fig. 2.20j. Lithography followed by etching are then used to form the
release holes and the horizontal gaps of the resonator in Fig. 2.20k.
Finally, the structure is released form the underneath oxide layer by etching through
exposure in HF acid for one hour as shown in Fig. 2.22. Since our resonators are
at this time. The resonator will be directly in contact with air or bio-fluids.
Since NEM resonators are promising devices for wide variety of applications, in-
38
(a) The last metal growth on the (b) The oxide layer growth on the
top of the CMOS. metal layer.
(c) SiC growth in the top of the (d) Defining the via.
oxide layer.
(i) Sputtering of the Al for inter- (j) Al patterning for the bond
connection. pad.
Figure 2.20: Thick poly SiGe platform for MEMS processing (step by step).
39
cluding bio-sensing, we considered designing and fabricating NEM devices for the
bio-sensing applications. Figure 2.21 shows a schematic cross section for NEM res-
onator based on imecs SiGe fabrication process. The structural layer of the resonator
has a thickness of 100 nm ( compared to 400 nm on the MEM device ) with a sacri-
ficial of 800 nm. In general, the process flow used to fabricate such NEM resonator
is similar to that described in Fig. 2.20 for the MEM case, with the exception of
Figure 2.21: The process cross section for the NEM platform (100 nm).
40
CHAPTER 3
BIO-SENSING TECHNIQUES
3.1 Introduction
new horizons for innovative and enhanced diagnostic tools. These tools are essential
for the advancement of medicine as they provide biomedical researchers and diseases
specialists with better knowledge about the patient condition and disease pathway.
It also give a chance for in-depth understanding of the bio-molecular interactions and
the way to treat different pathogenic diseases. Currently, the bio-detection methods
used in hospitals and clinics either suffer from long analysis time around hours, e.g.
LFAs, or lack sensitivity as in ELISAs. This highlights the need for highly sensitive
In this chapter, various bio-sensing techniques, showing the advantages and disad-
First, we introduce the definition of a bio-sensor and the metrics used for its per-
41
to other techniques. The other techniques will be discussed for the purpose of com-
Several definition of the biosensor are available [82] [10]. According to Turner [10],
Based on this definition, the bio-sensor composed of two basic components con-
nected in series, as shown in Fig. 3.1. The main role of the molecular recognition
system (receptor) is to interact with the required molecule. The second part is the
physical signal i.e. thermal, electrical or optical. Most often, the physical output
signal is really weak requiring amplification stages for proper display to the user.
42
Sensitivity: It is the main metric for a bio-sensor. It defines the minimum
netics of the binding mechanism between the transducer and the surrounding
Selectivity: The bio-sensor should be highly selective for the target analyte
reactions. This represent a basic challenge during the operation in low concen-
[84]. Also, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) could be used to amplify the re-
quired analyte before the sensing, enabling low concentration operation [85].
Another approach is to use an array of sensors that interact differently with the
targeted molecules and based on their output signal, the targeted molecule con-
Dynamic range: It is defined as the range over which the resonator is able to
lower bound is defined by the system noise while the upper limit is dictated by
the device saturation .i.e. non indicative output of the analyte concentration
[88].
Response time: The bio-sensor response should be quick enough so that real
time monitoring of the targeted analyte could be done efficiently. The recovery
43
Others: There are other less important metrics like the life time and signal
reproducibility.
Figure 3.2: Classification of the bio-sensor based on chemical detection and physical
transduction.
Figure 3.2 shows the classification of bio-sensors. Based on the chemical interac-
tion between the sensor and the targeted analyte, bio-sensors are divided into four
types [6]: (1) affinity based assays where highly selective target identification and
44
capture is achieved by employing high specificity between the target and the func-
tionilzation layer on the surface. (2) finger print assay that rely on a multiple of less
ing affinities to an ensemble of sensors. (3) separation based assays where chemical
affinities between the functionlization layer and flowing analytes permit spatiotem-
poral separation of analytes (4) spectrometric assays where, for example, the mass or
The bio-sensors can be classified into different types based on their transduction
technique i.e. the conversion from the chemical reaction into a physical signal. Figure
chemical signals are generated during the biochemical reactions and monitored using
an indicator (ion selective electrode) and a reference electrode. This potential differ-
ence between the two electrodes is proportional to the logarithm of the ion activity
or the gas concentration [89]. Most of the potentiometric devices are pH electrodes.
45
Similarly, amperometric detection is based on the measurement of the current result-
of the electro-active species or its production/ consumption rate within the electrode
adjacent bio-layer [90] [91]. As for the conductomertic method, it is based on the
impedance measurement between two electrodes, through which the targeted analyte
reaction takes place [92]. Finally, the calorimetric systems method, shown in Fig. 3.3,
measure the change in temperature of the solution containing the analyte following
the enzyme action and interpret it in terms of the analyte concentration in the solu-
tion. Due to the exothermic nature of the enzyme reactions, the heat generated by
46
3.2.2 Optical sensors
Optical bio-sensors are the most well known form of bio-sensors. The fluorescent
cal based bio-sensor integrate optical techniques with bio-logical element to identify
[94]. Here, we would like to mention two important types of optical bio-sensors, the
whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonator based bio-sensor and surface plasma res-
onance based bio-sensor. Other types of optical bio-sensors can be found in [91] [95]
[96].
Figure 3.4: Schematic diagram of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) operation for
bio-sensing applications.
47
Surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor
SPR is a physical optics phenomenon which is used for the development of non-
labelled free marker based bio-sensor system. The SPR biosensor is an analytical
device based on the excitation of a plasmon wave at the metal dielectric interface.
Different approaches are used for the generation of the plasmon wave such as using
prism coupler, optical fiber, optical wave guides and grating couplers [97]. The surface
plasmon wave is extremely sensitive to the variation of the refractive index. When the
required bio-molecules are attached to the metal surface, a change to the refractive
index occurs. This leads to a change in the SPR reflection angle as shown in Fig. 3.4.
Optical resonators are based upon light oscillating within a resonant cavity. Whis-
pering gallery mode resonators consist of a circular cavity through which the light
is often introduced by evanescent coupling, using a trapped optical fibre placed next
to the cavity [98]. The light is confined within the cavity through internal reflection
as shown in Fig. 3.5. If the light can propagate through the cavity and interfere
drop detected by an optical filter. The resonance frequency is sensitive to the optical
path through the cavity. Attached bio-molecules will change the optical path and in
turn a resonance frequency shift will be detected. Further details can be found in the
N / MEM based sensors are considered as the most promising bio-sensing de-
vices. The main strength of these mechanical biosensor comes from the fact that
48
Figure 3.5: Schematic representation of the operation of the optical whispering gallery
mode (WGM) resonator
its behaviour depend mainly on its physical dimensions. With technology advances,
MEMS dimensions are getting smaller and smaller enabling enhanced performance.
The smaller the resonator mass, the better the sensitivity will be. Besides, minia-
turizing the resonator dimensions will enhance its compliance, resulting in higher
displacement for smaller forces. NEM has been shown to resolve forces down to 1
pN sensitivity and sense a mass of 1 yoctogram (1e-24g) [102]. Moreover, they offer
much faster response allowing mili-second detection instead of hours. Since the NEM
However, the main challenge for the N / MEM based biosensor is the packaging.
into [6].
49
Figure 3.6: Static electro-mechanical bio-sensor(a) Functionlized cantilever with zero
displacement (z=0) and (b) Static displacement after trapping the bio-molecules.
Static devices, also known as deflection / stress based sensors, are generally beams
supported at one end and the other end is free (cantilever). Those beams are func-
tionlized with a given receptor to catch the targeted analyte. Upon the binding of
the targeted analyte, the cantilever tip deflects down depending on the nature of
the binded molecules [103] [104] as given in Fig. 3.6. For deflection measurement,
the cantilever and the electrode can be used to detect the displacement. However,
this capacitance is reduced with scaling the device dimensions and the measurement
becomes more prone to noise and parasitics [29]. Another technique is the optical
detection through reflecting a laser beam off the cantilever and detecting the angle
enables a better detection method through measuring the resistance variation [106]
50
Dynamic mode bio-sensor
Mechanical structures can be used for the bio-sensing when operated in their
Upon functionlizing the mechanical resonator surface with proper receptor agents,
the binding molecules will be attached to the resonator. The added molecules will
lead to the mass and stiffness variation and in turn resonance frequency shifts, as
shown in Fig. 3.7 [6] [107] [108]. By measuring this resonance shift, it is possible
to identify the nature and the concentration of the added molecules. The resonator
up to (1e5) in vacuum condition has been reported [6]. However, when operating
the resonator in a viscous medium such as air, water or blood, fluid friction between
the vibrating structure and the surrounding medium highly degrades the Q-factor
[23]. The common practice used to avoid this Q-factor degradation is the dip dry
and after being treated with target molecules, then the resonance frequency shift is
calculated. The dip dry approach has several disadvantages such as: (1) loss of
ability to work with activated microbes (2) decrease appeal for POC applications (3)
loss of the insight of the actual kinetics of biochemical surface reactions. (4) wetting
or change in stiffness due to surface adhesion or stress and (5) decrease in affinity due
51
to drying (possibility of the bio-molecules de attachment ).
within the resonator instead of the direct fluid contact. This enables the measurement
within the air or vacuum. These structures are known as suspended micro-channel
resonator (SMR), shown in Fig. 3.8 [110]. This way, the high Q-factor is still pre-
served offering a much higher sensitivity. Unfortunately, this method still has some
restrictions such as the dependence of amount of the sensed fluid on the micro-fluidic
channel size and the relatively longer response time for detection [111]. Another way
to overcome the viscous damping is the higher mode operation of the resonator [112].
These modes offer smaller displacement which lowers the structure fluid interaction
and yields higher Q-factor. However, this lower displacement makes the detection
determined by Reynolds number. The higher the Reynolds number, the lower the
52
Figure 3.8: Operation of SMR with a tube passing within the resonator.
damping is. One way to increase the Reynolds number is to go for higher frequencies,
which means higher order modes, smaller dimensions or stiffer structures. The higher
order modes, as discussed earlier, have some problems concerning the detection pro-
cedure. For dimension scaling, technology puts a lower limit on the resonator dimen-
sions. Moving to stiffer structures as BAW resonators shown in Fig. 3.9 is considered
as good idea [113] [15] [114]. Mainly, BAW resonators offer distinct advantages: (1)
lower fluid interaction than flexural based resonators (2) higher energy capacity and
(3) higher power handling capability offering a wider dynamic range. On the other
hand, a higher voltage / current is needed to actuate these resonators due to its rel-
gap resonators can be used with either solid [30] or aqueous mediums [31].
53
(a) BAW lame mode bar res- (b) BAW lame mode resonator (c) Disk BAW bio-sensor [114]
onator as bio-sensor [15] with a solid gap for en-
hanced transduction used for
bio-sensing [113]
Another approach for employing the resonators for bio-sensing is to measure the
frequency shift of the stability boundary (fc ) of the first order parametric resonance
tongue (critical frequency) [115], shown in Fig. 3.9, which is the frequency at which
the instability occurs. This frequency is related to the resonator mass through Eq.
(3.2) where k is the stiffness N/m, r is the electro-static coefficient and VA is the AC
Mostly importantly, the critical resonance frequency given by the previous equation
highly viscous medium without performance degradation, as in the case of the simple
harmonic (SHR) resonator. However, more complex schemes are needed to drive the
resonator into the correct region of operation and to track the critical frequency shift
[116]. Besides, this detection approach is dependent on the operating conditions i.e.
54
In conclusion, there are mainly two approaches for bio-molecules detection using me-
chanical devices. The first one, known as the static mode, where the resonator static
displacement is used as indicative of the added molecules. This detection method op-
erates well both in air and viscous fluids. However, it is limited to the near monolayer
region. The second approach is known as the dynamic mode resonator, where the
added mass due to the binding molecules will change the resonance frequency. Dy-
namic mode resonators perform poorly in viscous medium. Using different methods
mentioned above, the dynamic mode sensor can detect mass down to the yoctogram
(1e-24). Based on this, the work of this thesis is mainly focused on dynamic N /
MEM resonators.
The bio-sensitivity for a given sensor is defined as the minimum detectable concen-
tration of the targeted molecules. For the mechanical domain sensor , bio-sensitivity
can be redefined as the minimum resonance frequency shift for a given added mass
1 f0 1 df0
Sm = lim = (3.3)
m0 f0 m f0 dm
The minimum limit for the bio-sensor depends on the minimum detectable resonance
to (1) extrinsic factors as the bandwidth of the frequency sensing circuit and external
sources of noise and (2) intrinsic noise generated within the device itself as discussed
by Roukes [88]. With proper designing the read out circuits, the extrinsic effects cab
fluctuations, adsorption and desorption noise and momentum exchange noise will be
55
the ultimate limit for the mass detection. For our resonator, the ultimate limit to
the mass sensing is mainly attributed to the thermo-mechanical noise. The minimum
Based on this equation, there are two obvious ways to enhance the bio-sensitivity.
First is the scaling of the resonator mass either through proper design or moving
towards advanced fabrication technologies. The second way is to increase the surface
area to volume ratio through adding nano-wire over the resonator surface as proposed
by lu [38] or using perforated materials on the top of the nano-resonator surface [79].
Tappura [15] also has presented a basin based BAW resonator where a larger surface
area is offered. All these approaches introduce a higher surface area at the expense
In this thesis, we introduce a new design for BAW resonator that offers higher surface
area to volume ratio and at the same time a lower mass as shown in Fig. 2.18. This
is done through introducing uniform hole perforations within the resonator body.
Although these designs were previously employed for different applications such as
timing devices [78], this work represents the first time such a method is applied for
the bio-sensing.
56
CHAPTER 4
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
In this chapter, the experimental setup used for measuring the bio-sensitivity of
the bar resonator is presented. First, we discuss the electrical measurement connec-
tions required for detecting the resonator motion under ambient pressure condition.
Second, we show the extraction of the RLC components for the MEM resonators.
Then, the different steps for the functionlization process are explained.
The N / MEM resonators are capacitively actuated in its first extensional mode
as discussed in Chapter 2. They is driven as a dual port system with an electrode for
actuation and another one for sensing [18]. Figure 4.1 shows the measurement setup
for the bar resonator. An AC voltage superimposed on the DC voltage are used for
the actuation. Electrostatic forces drive the resonator in its first extensional width
mode. A motional current will be generated due to the capacitive variation between
the sensing electrode and the bar resonator.The resonator is measured under ambient
pressure conditions.
The bar resonator are measured using PAV and impedance analyzer as shown in
Figs. 4.1 and 4.2. The resonator is placed in an temperature and pressure controlled
57
Figure 4.1: Measurement setup for the bar resonators using the network analyzer.
Figure 4.2: The main parts of the system used for measuring the bar resonators.
58
(a) (b)
Figure 4.3: Measured and fitted S21 parameters for full BAW bar type resonators.
chamber filled with nitrogen. RF probes are used for the resonator excitation and
sensing. The output measured S21 parameter are given for the resonator under
equivalent circuit given in Fig. 2.8. The circuit components are extracted experimen-
tally by fitting the measured S21 -parameter to a circle in the complex plan (Nyquist
plot) as shown in Fig. 4.3 [118] [119]. A fit quality is calculated based on the ratio
between the distance from each data point to the centre of the circle and the radius
of the circle. A good fit means that the fit quality is around unity. Data is neglected
The noise measurements are taken into account by shifting the circle and rotating
its axis to get rid of the parasitics added to the measurements. Once the circuit
59
parameters L, C and Rm are extracted. The resonance frequency and the critical
The Q factor is also estimated based on the frequency span through 1/2 points circle
nonlinear optimization), the estimated resonance frequency and quality factor are
compared with the calculated values based on the equivalent circuit and the RLC
Using the extracted equivalent circuit components, we compared the measured har-
monic response of the bar type BAW resonators with the numerical computation as
4.2 Functionlization
Upon the adhering of the desired bio-molecules to the surface of MEM resonator,
the resonance frequency shifts making it possible to detect the presence of such bio-
ensure the selective adhesion of the desired molecule to be detected. In our case, we are
depends on the formation of strong hydrogen bond between the DNA on the resonator
surface and its targeted complement DNA. Moreover, this process determines the
schematically illustrated in Fig. 4.4. Briefly, it consists of the following steps [108]:
60
Oxidation: This step is used to oxidize the resonator SiGe surface by soaking
and thermally curing it. Oxygen site on the surface are critical for the APTES
used to deposit a self assembled monolayer (SAM) on the oxidized SiGe surface
which works as an intermediate layer between the oxide and the cross linker.
probes to the device surface. It increases the accuracy and efficiency of hy-
bridization between the tethered probe and the target DNA sequences. The
linker consists of several active end-groups (hydroxyl or amino group) for at-
tachment to the APTES on the lower side and the DNA on the upper side.
Immobilized DNA The layer provides the connection point for the targeted
to the cross linker layer. This layer determines the sensor selectivity. The probe
Adding Blocking Agent Since the DNA immobilization layer is not uniform,
some active sites of the silane layer may remain uncovered at the end of this
process. These active sites deteriorate the selectivity of the sensor. To neu-
tralize these active sites, Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) is used as a blocking
hybridization buffer for 6 h. A drying step was added after the blocking step
61
Figure 4.4: Different steps for the resonator functionlization.
where the sample was left in vacuum for 2 h at 40o C. The temperature was kept
Specific and Non-specific DNA The biosensor MEM device is now ready for ex-
on the MEM surface forms a strong hydrogen bond only with its complement
(targeted DNA), generating a stable double strand DNA. The non-specific DNA
should not react with our structure. Depending on the amount of the added
It is now clear that during the functionlization process, a MEM - based biosensor
is exposed to several wet process for extended period of time. That highlights the
need for taking into account the impact of the usage environment on the design of
62
the MEM based biosensor. A successful sensor is expected to provide the desired
Dip and dry method is used for the measurement of the bio-sensitivity. In this
under ambient pressure condition. Then, the resonator is exposed to the different
DNA molecules. After that, the resonator is dried using nitrogen gun and the res-
onance frequency is measured again. Based on the frequency shift between the two
measurements, the mass of the added molecules are determined. This way, we avoid
measuring the resonator performance while within within fluid, which retains a char-
acteristics Q-factor of the device. On the other hand, the dip and dry method has
several disadvantages [109]: (1) loss of insight into actual kinetics of the biochemical
reaction (2) potential change in stiffness of the resonator due to drying steps (3) de-
63
CHAPTER 5
5.1 Introduction
In this chapter, we present our contribution to the modeling of the MEM / NEM
resonators for DNA sensing. In this regard, we considered three families of resonators.
Firstly, we selected thick DCB resonators adopted and fabricated at imec using 4 m
SiGe platform. Secondly, we modeled thin flexural resonators i.e. cantilevers and
DCBs with SiGe thickness of 100 nm ( currently under development and in fabrica-
tion). Finally, meta-material based BAW resonators for fabrication using the 4 m
We started with the thick DCBs resonators. The behaviour of those beams under
both the resonance frequency and the quality factor are extracted and compared. A
It has lower mass than the DCB which results in a higher bio-sensitivity. In this nano-
scale regime (50nm), intermolecular forces represented by the Casimir and vdW force
for the influence of these forces (i.e. Casimir and vdW), on the harmonic response of
the resonator including its static displacement, resonance frequency and their energy
64
storage capability, is built. Despite the low air interaction and small mass, NEM
resonators have lower quality factor compared to their MEM counterparts [120].
Moreover, flexural resonators have a low surface area to volume ratio. As a re-
sult, we moved to the BAW resonators to take the advantage of its high Q-factor
(around 8,000). Furthermore, we introduced square holes within the resonator body
resonator. COMSOL simulations were performed to study the effect of the added
for the perforation density to maximizing the dynamic range and bio-sensitivity of
the resonator. In the next chapter, we discuss the results of sweeping the resonator
A DCB resonator consists of a beam with a rectangular cross section fixed at both
ends as given in Fig. 5.1. The beam is fabricated in imec SiGe platform with a 4m
and 3 m thick structural and sacrificial layer, respectively. Figure 5.1 shows the
the first choice to be evaluated in this work. The resonators are modeled analytically
and numerically where we extract the resonance frequency (fres ) and the quality
factor (Q). Moreover, we study the impact of the resonator dimensions and material
65
(a) SEM image of double clamped (b) Schematic diagram of double clamped beam res-
beam resonators. onators under fluidic and electrostatic forces.
Energy losses for MEM resonators are mechanically originated. Details of such
mechanical losses were discussed in section 2.6. As biosensor is based on dip and dry
measurement method under ambient pressure conditions, the viscous damping is the
dominant loss mechanism. Focusing on the resonator friction with the surrounding
medium such as air or blood, the viscous force induced by the resonator friction
with the surrounding medium leads to inertial, compression and damping effects.
Reynolds and squeeze numbers defined in Eqs. (2.15) and (2.16), are used to express
the importance of inertial and compression effects relative to damping effects [46].
In the case of the DCBs, the Reynolds number is small enough to practically ignore
the internal forces. Thus, only the damping and the compression forces need to be
considered. This condition simplifies the complicated 3D NS equation into the simple
h30 2 p 2 p
h0 p w
2
+ 2 = + (5.1)
12 x y pa t t
66
where p is the fluidic pressure exerted on the resonator, h0 is the gap height at zero
force, denotes the medium viscosity, and w is the resonator displacement in the
vertical direction.
Reynolds equation describes the variation of the pressure across the resonator surface
with the resonator driving force and dimensions. Reynolds equation coupled with
the resonator equation of motion are solved simultaneously to describe the resonator
4w 4w 4w 2w
D + 2 + + m tb = F = p(x, y, t) (5.2)
x4 x2 y 2 y 4 t2
where D is the flexural rigidity, m is the resonator material density and F denotes
In this case, the resonator surface becomes slippery (Knudsen number Kn < 0.1).
This gas rarefaction leads to a tangential velocity jump between the resonator and
the surrounding air. Gas rarefaction effect is accounted for in terms of the effective
viscosity principle, where we use the effective viscosity(ef f ) instead of the actual
ef f = kn = (5.3)
1 + 9.638Kn1.159 h0
67
Using Green function transformation, pressure exserted by the fluid on the resonator
Integrating the pressure over the resonator total surface area, the total fluidic force
is expressed as:
X 64b2m ieit
ftot = (5.8)
m,n=odd
4 m2 n2 kmn
2 / + i
The variables ( and )depends on the mode constant () according to the fol-
lowing:
Therefore, the damping coefficient, defined as the ratio between the total fluidic force
pa LW 64 X b2m (m2 2 /4 + n2 )
ca = (5.11)
h0 6 m,n=odd
(mn)2 [m2 2 /4 + n2 ]2 + 2 / 4
W
= (5.12)
L
12ef f W 2
= (5.13)
h20 pa
68
Similarly, the fluidic spring constant, defined as the ratio of the fluidic force to the
pa LW 64 X b2m
ka = (5.14)
h0 6 m,n=odd
(mn)2 [m2 2 /4 + n2 ]2 + 2 / 4
The resonator is represented as lumped model of mass (m), dashpot (c) and spring
(k) as discussed in Chapter 2. Under the ambient pressure condition, the dashpot(c)
is equal to the air damping coefficient(Ca ).The resonator effective spring (kef f ) is
defined as the difference between the resonator stiffness (k) and the air stiffness (kair ):
kef f = k kair .
Based on the lumped model, the beam resonance frequency and quality factor are
given by Eqs. (2.1) and (2.2) where mef f and kef f represents the resonator effective
COMSOL simulations are performed to validate the results obtained from the an-
alytical model. Air damping phenomena is handled in COMSOL by coupling thin film
damping physics with solid mechanics. Effective viscosity principle is used for includ-
ing the gas rarefaction effects. Eigen frequency simulation is performed, where total
Q-factor and resonance frequency are extracted based on the the following equation,
Im()
fres = Re() Q= (5.16)
2Re()
69
5.3 NEM resonators
Mechanically, they have a lower interaction with the surrounding air molecules due
to their lower contact surface area with the surrounding medium and high resonance
frequency (> 100M Hz). Additionally, a NEM resonator ( < 100nm thickness) has a
lower mass which, in turn, results in a higher bio-sensitivity, compared to their MEM
counterparts [102]. However, its power handling capability and motional detection
is mainly limited because of its small dimensions. This leads to the need of driving
the resonator close to its critical amplitude. The critical amplitude is the maximum
amplitude beyond which the resonator is driven into the nonlinear region [11]. There-
fore, it is important to precisely define the critical amplitude to ensure the proper
In the next sections, we develop an analytical model to examine the impact of the
intermolecular forces on the resonators performance including the static stability, lin-
ear harmonic behaviour, nonlinear harmonic response and energy storage capability.
The model is then applied to various NEM structures to clarify the impact of the
intermolecular forces.
5.3.1 Model
Our analysis is based on a SDOF model for the NEM resonator represented by
a lumped mass m, stiffness k and damping c as shown in Fig. 5.2. The resonator
is operated under the influence of both electrostatic and intermolecular forces . The
motion of the resonator is governed by the (linear) equation of motion as follows [8]
70
The electrostatic force is given by Eq. (5.18) where is the medium permittivity and
Sa Vdc2
Fel = (5.18)
2(d0 x)2
The intermolecular force is defined in terms of the intermolecular coefficient int and
int
Fint = (5.19)
(d0 x)n
2 ~c0
int = , n=4 (5.20)
240
For the vdW force, int and n are given by the following Eq. (5.21) where A represents
A
int = , n=3 (5.21)
6
stiffness, gap height and overlap surface area with the driving electrode. To enable
the analysis, we define the intermolecular parameter int to represent the intensity of
the intermolecular force and is given by Eq. (5.22) [69] [70]. The higher int for a given
structure is, the higher the impact of nano-forces is. Increasing the intermolecular
force leads to an increased displacement until the pull-in condition is reached where
the resonator collapses with the driving electrode. The value of int at which the
pull-in occurs solely due to the intermolecular forces without any driving voltage is
71
Figure 5.2: A single degree of freedom model with mass m, stiffness k and damper
c, representing an electrostatically driven resonator with a transduction gap d0 and
overlap surface area with the electrode Sa .
increasing the applied voltage leads to pull-in condition. The pull-in voltage is given
Sa
int = (5.22)
kdn+1
0
nn
P I = (5.23)
(n + 1)n int
s
2 3 kd30
VP I = (5.24)
3 Sa
Parameter normalization
velop our model and draw general conclusions. The normalized intermolecular pa-
Eqs. (5.25 - 5.27). The parameters V and represent the ratio of the electrostatic
and the intermolecular forces to the structure elastic force, respectively. Both V and
72
vary from zero i.e. the absence of the respective force to unity i.e. pull-in occurs
Vdc
V = (5.25)
VP I
int
= (5.26)
P I
x
xd = (5.27)
d0
Reducing the resonator transduction gap height, increases. The gap height at
which reaches unity is known as the critical gap dcrit given by Eq. (5.28). The dcrit
resonators.
1
(n + 1)n int Sa
n+1
dcrit = (5.28)
nn k
The influence of the intermolecular forces on the resonator is studied through the
analysis of three cases: static, linear harmonic and nonlinear harmonic behavior.
In the static case, Eq. (5.17) is reduced to Eq. (5.29), where xst is the static
displacement. At pull-in, the derivative of the forcing term is equal to that of the
(Fel + Fint )
k= (5.30)
x
In the normalized form, using the expressions (5.25-5.27), Eqs. (5.29) and (5.30) can
be written as Eqs. (5.31) and (5.32) that define the link between , V and xst the
73
static pull-in condition.
22 V 2 nn
xst = + (5.31)
33 (1 xst )2 n + 1n+1 (1 xst )n
23 V 2 nn+1
1= 3 + (5.32)
3 (1 xst )2 n + 1n+1 (1 xst )n
For harmonic behavior, we consider the resonator being operated under the influ-
ence of a voltage vt = VDC +vac sin(t) that leads to a total displacement (x = xst +xd )
where xd represents the dynamic displacement of the resonator around its static po-
sition xst . The nonlinear electrostatic and intermolecular forces can be expanded
around xst in terms of xd as shown in Eqs. (5.33) and (5.35). These expansions
can be written in terms of stiffness coefficients as given in Eqs. (5.34) and (5.36)
where k1e , k2e , k3e and k1i , k2i , k3i represent the spring softening terms introduced by
Sa Vdc2
2 6 2 18 3
Fel = 1+ xd + x + x + ...
2(d0 xst )2 (d0 xst ) 2!(d0 xst )2 d 3!(d0 xst )2 d
(5.33)
Fel = Fel0 + k1e xd + k2e x2d + k3e x3d + ... (5.34)
int n n(n + 1) 2 n(n + 1)(n + 2) 3
Fint = 1+ xd + x + x + ...
(d0 xst )n (d0 xst ) 2!(d0 xst )2 d 3!(d0 xst )2 d
(5.35)
Fint = Fint0 + k1i xd + k2i x2d + k3i x3d + ... (5.36)
be neglected. Subtracting Eq. (5.29) from Eq. (5.17) and using Eqs. (5.34) and
(5.36), the motion of the resonator is described by the following linearized equation,
2
vac
assuming Vdc2 >> 2
as [8]:
74
Vdc vac
Where fac = (d0 xst )2
denotes the electrostatic force component due to the applied
ac voltage vac . The total effective stiffness k1,ef f accounts for both k1e and k1i spring
k1,ef f = k1,ef f /k = 1 k1,e k1,i (5.39)
The electrical and intermolecular stiffness terms are extracted from Eqs. (5.33) and
23 V 2 nn+1
k1e = k1i = (5.40)
34 (1 xst ) (n + 1)n+1 (1 xst )n+1
This shows that the effective stiffness of the resonator depends on the applied DC
voltage, resonator gap as well as, the intensity and the scaling power of the nano-
forces. The resonance frequency depends on the resonator effective stiffness and the
q
k1,ef f
mass as 0 = m
. In its normalized form, the resonance frequency is expressed
as:
0 q
0 = =
(1 k1,e
k1,i )
0 ( = 0, V = 0)
s (5.41)
23 V 2
nn+1
= 1 3 +
3 (1 xst )2 n + 1n+1 (1 xst )n
Increasing the intensity of either the intermolecular or the electrostatic force leads to
Under a large vibration amplitude, the nonlinear terms in Eqs. (5.34) and (5.36)
must be considered. These terms drive the resonator into the nonlinear regime. The
75
resonator equation of motion within the nonlinear region is given as [8]:
The stiffness terms k2,ef f and k3,ef f have mechanical km , electrical ke , and intermolec-
d0 k2,ef f
k2,ef f = (5.45)
k
d20 k3,ef f
k3,ef f = (5.46)
k
The harmonic response of the resonator in the presence of nonlinear terms is estimated
fac /m
xd = q 2 (5.47)
02 2 + (0 0 /Q)2
0
fac
xd = xd /d = q 2 (5.48)
02 2 + (0 0 /Q)2
0
Where fac is the normalized AC electrostatic force, xd represents the normalized
Q denotes the resonators quality factor. The critical amplitude is estimated using
76
the first three stiffness term as [11]:
s s
4 xc 4
xc = 0 , xc = = (5.52)
3 3Q d0 3 3Q
The maximum energy stored within the resonator when operated in its linear re-
gion depends on the effective stiffness and critical amplitude according to the following
[8]:
1
Emax = k1,ef f x2c (5.53)
2
The intermolecular forces affect the stored energy through decreasing the resonator
effective stiffness and limiting the critical amplitude. The relation between the energy
storage capability of the NEM resonator and its phase noise can be clearly seen during
its operation as a linear oscillator. The energy stored determines the oscillator output
phase noise to carrier ratio L() as given in Eq. (5.54) where kB is the Boltzmanns
2kB T Q kB T 0
L() = 10log + (5.54)
Emax 0 Emax Q 2
Decreasing the resonator maximum stored energy of the resonator increases the out-
put phase noise to carrier ratio. Therefore, the intermolecular forces play a crucial
Flexural resonator, either MEM or NEM suffer from low surface area to volume
ratio. Moreover, viscous damping highly degrades their quality factor when operating
77
under ambient pressure condition. Keeping these issues in mind, we considered the
meta-material based BAW resonators as our next candidate. BAW resonators are
known for their high Q-factor (> 1000) making them good candidates for the bio-
resonator, shown in Fig. 5.3, features square holes. These holes dramatically increase
the surface to volume ratio and at the same time reduce the resonator effective mass.
Moreover, they provide a higher chance for the bio-molecules to attach to the lower
face of the resonator. On the fabrication side, we expect that the holes eliminates the
possibility of stiction during both the fabrication process and the bio-functionlization
step of the resonator. These attributes improve the resonator performance as a biosen-
sor under low concentration conditions. Mechanically, these holes change the effective
The meta-material based BAW resonator in Fig. 5.3 consists of a bar with 220m
78
long and 110m wide suspended in free space by means of T-support. The transduc-
tion is done through a horizontal gap of height 250 nm by applying a voltage from
one side and measuring the output current from the other side. The bar itself, as
as a structural layer, features square holes with a given perforation pitch and hole
size. Figure 5.4 shows a SEM image for MEMA bar based resonator with different
perforation densities
We consider two families with different perforation densities to study the impact of
the hole size on the harmonic response. Each family has six resonators with several
anchor length around the optimum value [22]. The first family has solid resonators
without any perforations except for standard release holes. The second family has
resonators with effective density of ef f = 0.68 and a perforation pitch p = 5m. The
harmonic behaviour of each family is modeled and the bio-sensitivity is calculated for
each family.
79
5.4.1 Modeling
The equivalent RLC circuit is used to model the full harmonic response of the
holes with different densities on the RLC equivalent circuit for the resonator under
ambient pressure operating conditions. The equivalent circuit was extracted both
numerically and experimentally, then, the resonance frequency (fres ), quality factor
Resonance frequency
Adding holes to the bar resonator modifies the mechanical parameters of the
resonator: density (), Youngs modulus (E) and Poisson ratio (). For the extraction
of these parameters, two techniques can be used: phase extraction and static pull test.
First, the phase extraction is performed using the eigen frequency analysis. Based on
the phase diagram, we extract the acoustic wave propagation velocity within the bar
[77]. In the static pull test, a unit cell is used for the extraction of the mechanical
parameters [123], as shown in Fig. 5.5. A constant strain is applied on the unit
cell lower surface. The side walls are kept straight. By calculating the extensions
in both directions, the effective poisson ratio (ef f ) can be evaluated. Similarly, the
ratio of the stress to the strain define the effective Youngs modulus (Eef f ). Knowing
the effective mechanical parameters Eef f and ef f , the resonance frequency for the
80
Figure 5.5: A static pull test for a unit cell of BAW bar type MEM resonator.
Air damping
either air or fluid. In both cases, the viscous damping through friction with the sur-
rounding medium limits the resonator quality factor. In the perforated case, squeeze
film damping occurs within the transduction gaps of the resonator and the perfora-
For the two families considered in our studies, the resonance frequency varies from
18M Hz to 25 M Hz. For this frequency range, the calculated Reynolds number using
Eq. (2.15) shows that the three fluidic effects (inertial, compression and damping )
must be considered for the modeling of the resonator. Therefore, solving the lin-
Since the resonator operates within the slip region, we used the effective viscosity
principle for modeling the gas rarefaction for both the slide film damping and the
squeeze film damping as given in Eqs. (2.20) and (2.23) [25] [24]
81
A COMSOL FEM is built and used for solving the linearized NS equation and the bar
equation of motion. Figure 5.6 shows the problem layout simulated in COMSOL to
model the bar resonator, where the frequency of the boundary load applied is swept
around the resonance. Based on the ratio between the resonance frequency and the
We calculated the harmonic response for both families of MEMA resonators. The
Figure 5.6: Bar cross section showing different air viscous damping mechanisms.
Motional resistance
of the resonator under a given applied ac voltage. The lower the motional resistance,
the higher the dynamic displacement is. The motional resistance depends on both
the resonator Youngs modulus(E), the applied DC voltage (Vdc ), the transduction
gap d0 and the resonator thickness (t) as given by the following equation [17]:
p
Eef f ef f d40
Rmotional = (5.56)
8Vdc2 2 LtQ
82
Motional resistance represents the current drawn by the resonator at the resonance.
Thus, it is an indicator of the resonator signal to noise ratio. It can be seen from the
previous equation that the motional resistance depends mainly on the transduction
gap and the applied DC voltage. Increasing the resonator thickness increases the
Since adding the perforation decreases the resonator effective mechanical properties
Eef f , ef f and decreases the resonator quality factor. Thus, the motional resistance
p
also changes, depending on the ratio between the Eef f ef f and the Q-factor [19].
Figure 5.7: COMSOL setup for the calculation of the motional resistance of MEMA
based BAW bar type resonators.
using COMSOL electromechanical physics module. Figure 5.7 shows the COMSOL
setup used for the simulation. The frequency of the AC applied voltage is swept. At
resonance, the total driving current drawn by the resonator is calculated [124]. The
motional resistance is computed by evaluating the ratio between the applied voltage
83
RLC extraction
RLC equivalent circuit, shown in Fig. 5.8, is used for the complete representation
resonance frequency (fres ) and the quality factor (Q), we extracted the equivalent
where L and C are the equivalent inductance and capacitance for the bar resonator
respectively.
Figure 5.8: Equivalent circuit through which the equivalent parameters are extracted.
5.4.2 Bio-sensitivity
frequency shift (fres ) due to a given added mass(m). The more the resonance fre-
quency shift, the more sensitive the resonator is. Mathematically, the bio-sensitivity
is written as [117]:
A fres
Se = lim (5.58)
fres m0 m
84
where A is the total surface area of the resonator and fres is the resonance frequency.
For the solid BAW resonators (no perforations), the resonator bio-sensitivity is written
1
Se = (5.59)
2t
For the MEMA resonators, the bio-sensitivity can be reduced to the following equation
2(s2 p2 ) + 4st
Se = (5.60)
2(s2 p2 )t
2s
Se = (5.61)
(s2 p2 )
A thin layer is grown on the top of the MEMA BAW resonator with the same density.
The eigen frequency for MEMA bar with the added layer is then computed. By
varying the added layer density, the resonance frequency shift is evaluated.
which also determines the dynamic range of the resonator. This parameter depends
on both the resonator surface area to volume ratio and the quality factor. Thermo-
mechanical noise imposes the lower limit of the mass detection for the MEM resonators
85
We used the minimum detectable mass (Mmin,A ) instead of bio-sensitivity (Se ) to
3 Q
F OM = Afres 2
(5.65)
M
This figure of merit assumes that the bars have the same vibration amplitude, shape
and operates under the same temperature which all seems reasonable assumptions.
Through sweeping the resonator perforation pitch and size, FOM is calculated to se-
In this section, we describe a sensing circuit used for the detection of MEM res-
onators displacement. The design of the sensing circuit is based on the electrical
representation of the MEM resonator given in Fig. 2.8. The equivalent circuit con-
sists of two branches, one holds the displacement current (Id ) and the other carries the
feed-through current (If ), given in Eqs. (2.7-2.8). The circuit component values are
computed using Eqs. (2.9 - 2.13) through COMSOL simulations. Figure 5.9 shows
the schematic diagram of the circuit. A capacitive detection method is used based on
the capacitors (Cpol and Cpa ), improving the circuit overall noise performance. The
read out circuit is based on a CMOS voltage amplifier biased as a source follower
the resonator displacement. This voltage controls the current of M1, this current is
86
Figure 5.9: Read out circuit for MEM resonator [4].
mirrored and amplified through transistors M3 and M4 and finally the voltage across
transistor M2, connected as active load, is measured. This approach minimizes the
input capacitance of the circuit as the gate drain capacitance is smaller than the gate
source capacitance. Finally a buffer stage is used to drive the circuit load.
Cp Cp Vdc
Vg = Vac + Aef f (5.66)
Cp + Cpa Cp + Cpa d0
where d0 is the resonator initial gap height and Aef f is the resonator effective dis-
placement.
The resonator voltage gain and DC operating points are controlled through the proper
selection of the transistor aspect ratios. H-spice simulation, using level 49 of 0.25 m
technology, is performed to estimate the circuit response and output signal under a
87
CHAPTER 6
6.1 Introduction
This chapter provides the analytical calculation and numerical simulation results
for the models discussed in Chapter 5. We perform a parametric study for the res-
onator dimensions and material properties to maximize its bio-sensitivity. The chap-
ter is organized as follows. Thick DCB resonators are studied first, estimating their
behaviour under ambient pressure conditions. After that, the influence of the inter-
molecular forces on NEM resonator harmonic response are introduced. COMSOL sim-
ulation results for the bio-performance of the MEMA based BAW resonators are pre-
of MEMA BAW resonator. Finally, we present new designs based on the fractal cells
for the estimating flexural beam resonance frequency, damping coefficient, air spring
constant and quality factor under ambient pressure condition where squeeze film
88
6.2.1 Analytical model
Based on Eqs. (5.11 - 5.14), the air damping coefficient and consequently, the
quality factor depend on the dimensions and material parameters of the resonator.
sions, air gap height, mechanical proprieties (Youngs modulus and density) and mode
(a) Effect of the beam length on the resonator (b) Effect of the beam length on the air damping
frequency. coefficient.
(c) Effect of the beam length on the air stiffness (d) Effect of the beam length on the air quality
coefficient. factor.
Figure 6.1: Effect of the beam length on the air viscous friction with the resonator.
89
Length: The impact of the resonator length on its performance under the
ambient pressure is shown in Fig. 6.1. The resonance frequency and air stiffness
coefficient decreases with the resonator length. Increasing the resonator length
leads to more air squeezed out of the gap which in turn results in a higher
and lower stored energy, leading to quality factor degradation. Since a longer
resonators have a lower resonance, this gives air a higher chance to escape from
the gap. Consequently, lower air compression is evident as shown in Fig. 6.1.
as shown in Fig. 6.2. Increasing the beam width leads to increased beam stiff-
increasing the beam width lowers the Q-factor as shown in Fig. 6.2. As the
width increases the amount of the air squeezed out of the resonator as well lead-
ing to increased damping. Moreover, increasing the width reduces the chance
of air escaping from the gap. This results in higher air compression for the wide
resonators.
the beam thickness. A thicker beam has a higher stiffness which leads to less
interaction with the surrounding air. Therefore, a thick resonators has a lower
frequencies which increases the chance for air to escape from the gap, leading
to higher air compression. Finally the stiffer resonators have a higher stored
90
(a) Effect of the beam width on the reso- (b) Effect of the beam width on the air
nance frequency. damping coefficient.
(c) Effect of the beam width on the air stiff- (d) Effect of the beam width on the quality
ness coefficient. factor.
Figure 6.2: Effect of the beam width on the air viscous friction with the resonator.
91
energy and lower damping coefficients. This is translated into higher Q-factor
(a) Effect of the beam thickness on the resonator (b) Effect of the beam thickness on the air
frequency. damping coefficient.
(c) Effect of the beam thickness on the air stiff- (d) Effect of the beam thickness on the air
ness coefficient. quality factor.
Figure 6.3: Effect of the beam thickness on the air viscous friction with the resonator.
Gap height: Gap height highly affects the resonator performance. Narrower
gaps result in higher air damping coefficients as given in Fig. 6.4. For narrow
gaps, high velocity gradients are found across the gap. This means that more
energy is dissipated in overcoming the friction forces between the air layers of
92
various velocities.
However, narrow gap does not provide enough space for the air to escape. Thus,
as shown in Fig. 6.4, the air spring constant drops drastically with increasing
(a) Effect of the gap height on the resonator (b) Effect of the gap height on the air damping
frequency. coefficient.
(c) Effect of the gap height on the air damping (d) Effect of the gap height on the air damping
coefficient. coefficient.
Figure 6.4: Effect of the gap height on the air viscous friction with the resonator.
93
Youngs modulus Increasing the Youngs modulus result in a stiffer resonator.
lower damping coefficient shown in Fig. 6.5. This leads to increased Q-factor
more air compression takes place with increasing resonators Youngs modulus.
(a) Effect of the Youngs modulus on the res- (b) Effect of the Youngs modulus on the air
onator frequency. damping coefficient.
(c) Effect of the Youngs modulus on the air (d) Effect of the Youngs modulus on the air
damping coefficient. damping coefficient.
Figure 6.5: Effect of the Youngs modulus on the air viscous friction with the res-
onator.
94
Density: The influence of the density on the resonator response is shown in
Fig. 6.6. Denser resonators result in lower resonance frequency. This enables
air to squeeze out of the gap. Thus, the air spring constant decreases with
the beam material density, as given in Fig. 6.6. Denser resonators stores more
Mode shape: The influence of the beam mode shape on air damping is also
illustrated in Fig. 6.7 for the first four resonance modes of DCB resonators.
The calculated air damping based on the equation of motion for different mode
shapes is given in Fig. 6.8. Higher modes show lower damping due to the
smaller displacement generated with these modes. This returns to the smaller
stiffer and lighter resonator with larger air gaps. For our case, imec process technol-
ogy is based on SiGe as structural material due to its compatibility with the CMOS
process integration and its superior mechanical and electrical proprieties. Therefore,
scaling down the resonator dimensions is a practical approach given the process tech-
vibration for the NEM resonator vibration as we are only interested in capacitive
transduction. Figure 6.8 shows the displacement and the pressure distribution ex-
erted on the lower face of the resonator for the first four Eigenmodes where the red
95
(a) Effect of the beam density on the resonance (b) Effect of the beam density on the air damping
frequency. coefficient.
(c) Effect of the beam density on the air stiffness (d) Effect of the beam density on the quality fac-
coefficient. tor.
Figure 6.6: Effect of the beam density on the air viscous friction with the resonator.
96
(a) Effect of the mode shape on the reso- (b) Effect of the mode shape on the air damp-
nance frequency. ing coefficient.
(c) Effect of the mode shape on the air (d) Effect of the mode shape on the quality
stiffness coefficient. factor.
Figure 6.7: Effect of the mode shape on the air viscous friction with the resonator.
97
Figure 6.8: Numerical and analytical computed quality factor and resonance fre-
quency for different modes of DCB resonators.The first column is the resonator dis-
placement and the second one represents the pressure distribution across the bar. The
red and blue colors denote the maximum and minimum values respectively. Tables
show the match between numerical and analytical computations.
98
and blue color represents the maximum and minimum value, respectively. As indi-
cated in the figure,the analytical and COMSOL results agree within 95% for different
Casimir and vdW force on the harmonic response of NEM resonator, based on the
model developed in section 5.3. The resonator is studied through three cases: Static
parameters, Eqs. (5.31-5.32) are solved simultaneously. These equations have (n+1)th
order. Then, it is impossible to find the closed form solutions of this equation. Using
Figure 6.9a shows the effect of the intermolecular force on the pull-in voltage. At zero
intermolecular parameter ( = 0), we get the normal pull-in voltage (VP I ). Increasing
the value of the intermolecular force reduces the pull-in voltage, reaching zero for full
forces ( = 0 ), the pull-in displacement is one third of the gap (d0 ). This value
decreases to one fourth of the gap for full vdW forces and one fifth for the full
Casimir forces.
Moreover, the intermolecular forces limit the dynamic range of the resonator, shift
99
the rest position at zero DC voltage and decrease the static pull-in displacement. The
rest and pull-in displacements converge with increasing as seen in Fig. 6.9b. This
shows that the dynamic range decreases with increased and ultimately reaches zero
when = 1.
(a) Variation of the pull-in parameters versus (b) Reduction of the dynamic range of the
the intermolecular parameter. resonator in the presence of the intermolec-
ular force.
Figure 6.9: Effect of the intermolecular forces on the pull-in parameters of NEM
resonators.
Before examining the NEM response under linear harmonic condition, the nonlin-
earity of the intermolecular forces with the resonator displacement leads to a spring
softening effect. This effect modifies the resonator overall stiffness, in turn, it changes
Figure 6.10a shows the influence of the intermolecular force on the resonance fre-
quency under different applied voltages. The higher the intermolecular parameter,
the lower the resonance frequency is, reaching zero for the pull-in case. Moreover, this
100
figure could also be used to quantify the effect of the intermolecular force through
known. Also, it is noted that Casimir force results in more frequency shift compared
Figure 6.10b shows the effect of the applied voltage on the resonance frequency for
duces the resonance frequency. It also reveals that the resonance frequency becomes
more sensitive to the applied bias voltage for higher intermolecular parameter.
(a) Resonance frequency shift versus the in- (b) Resonance frequency shift versus the
termolecular parameter under different DC applied voltage under different intermolec-
voltages. ular forces.
Figure 6.10: Effect of the spring softening effect introduced by the electrostatic and
the intermolecular forces on the resonance frequency of NEM resonators under linear
harmonic conditions.
Lets now examine the impact of nonlinear stiffness terms, introduced by the nano-
forces nonlinear terms in Eq. (5.34-5.36) on the harmonic response of NEM resonator
101
under large vibration amplitude conditions.
The nano-force nonlinearities contribute to limiting the critical amplitude for the
resonator. Based on Eq. (5.52), the normalized critical amplitude xc for the NEM
resonator under different and V is plotted in Fig. 6.11 assuming zero mechanical
nonlinear terms are considered as the main factor limiting the vibration amplitude
for the resonator. Also, the critical amplitude is more impacted by the Casimir in-
Figure 6.12 shows the effect of the intermolecular force on the harmonic response of
(a) Effect of the intermolecular forces on (b) Effect of the electrostatic forces on
the resonator critical amplitude under the resonator critical amplitude under
different voltage applied. different intermolecular forces.
Figure 6.11: Effect of the intermolecular spring softening effect on the resonator
critical amplitude.
the resonator assuming a constant quality factor of 1000 (Q=1000). The normalized
102
(5.47). Two cases are considered, without intermolecular force (solid) and with inter-
molecular force (dashed) under a normalized DC applied voltage of 0.2 for different
normalized AC voltages. It can be seen that the intermolecular higher stiffness com-
higher frequency shift. The slight increase in the dynamic displacement is attributed
to the smaller static gap given by the high intermolecular forces. This increased
displacement results in a more dynamic electrostatic force for the same AC applied
voltage.
(a) Harmonic response of the NEM resonator (b) Harmonic response of the NEM resonator in
in the presence of the Casimir forces under dif- the presence of the vdW forces under different
ferent AC applied voltage. AC applied voltage.
Figure 6.12: Harmonic response of NEM resonators under the influence of electrostatic
and intermolecular forces.
The Casimir and the vdW forces depend on the nature of the surface and the gap
height. However, at certain gaps, the resonator can be operated between Casimir
and vdW as shown by the continuous transition between Casimir and vdW reported
103
in [125]. To have a better understanding of this region, we calculated the resonance
frequency and the critical amplitude variation upon the transition from Casimir (n=4)
to vdW (n=3) as shown in Fig. 6.13 under a normalized DC voltage of V* = 0.4 and
Considering the resonance frequency, the Casimir force has higher impact relative
to the vdW force. At low intermolecular forces ( = 0.2), the resonance frequency
more resonance frequency shift is expected. For the critical amplitude, Casimir force
a larger reduction in the critical amplitude is found compared to the case of high
(a) Resonance frequency variation on the (b) Critical amplitude variation on the
transition from the Casimir force (n = 4) transition from the Casimir force (n =4)
to the vdW force (n=3). to the vdW force (n =3).
104
Table 6.1: Effect of intermolecular forces on different structures.
Structures Fres [M Hz] K[N/m] d0 [nm] inter f0 [Hz] xc (%)
Disk [12] 455 2.3e7 90 1.6e-7 12 -2.3e-3
Square Ext. [126] 13.1 1.6e7 750 1.1e-11 2e-5 -1.2e-5
BAW [14] 14 2.9e5 950 1.2e-11 3e-5 -1.4e-5
Free Beam [127] 30 2.7e4 160 1.3e-6 6.3 -5.7e-4
DCB [128] 27 1e3 300 6.5e-5 300 -0.19
DCB [70] 0.85 51 100 6e-2 8600 -25.7
The model developed in this chapter has been applied to several N / MEM struc-
tures from literature to determine the dimensions at which the intermolecular forces
clearly appear. Table 6.1 shows such structures operating under given DC applied
voltage. The last structure, DCB, is a theoretical DCB with dimensions 100x20x4
m and a vertical transduction gap of 100 nm. These dimensions are selected to
The intermolecular forces have shown a negligible impact on the harmonic response
of the resonator. This is returned to the high stiffness of the structure in the case
of bulk resonators and to small overall area with the driving electrode for cantilevers
and DCb resonators. For the theoretical DCB, the model predict (1%) shift in res-
onance frequency and (33%) decrease in the critical amplitude. This great impact
is returned mainly to its low stiffness (k = 51[N/m]) and large overlap area with the
electrode.
Despite the slight impact of the intermolecular forces on most current resonators, we
105
6.4 Meta-material BAW resonators
Based on the modeling results shown in the previous sections, flexural resonators
on micro scale suffer from low Q-factor and low surface area to volume ratio. Scaling
detection becomes more difficult along with the increased impact of nano-scale forces.
discussed in section 5.4, COMSOL simulations are performed to extract the MEMA
section, we show the COMSOL simulation results, verified using experimental setup
presented in Chapter 4. Figure 6.14 shows the harmonic response of MEMA based
bar resonator with a perforation density (ef f = 0.68) under different DC biasing
Figure 6.14: Harmonic response of MEMA resonator under the influence of different
DC voltages.
106
6.4.1 Modeling
The equivalent RLC circuit is used to model the full harmonic response of the
square holes with different densities on the RLC equivalent circuit component under
ambient pressure operating conditions. The equivalent circuit was extracted both
numerically and experimentally, then, the resonance frequency (fres ), quality factor
Resonance frequency
Adding square perforations within the resonator mechanical layer modifies the
resonator mechanical properties. Figure 6.15 shows the relation between the effective
Youngs modulus and Poisson ratio and the effective resonator density (ef f = (1
areahole /areatotal )). Increasing the perforation density, both Youngs modulus and
Poisson ratio decreases. Knowing the effective mechanical parameters Eef f and ef f ,
the resonance frequency for the MEMA based BAW bar with width W = 110m can
Air damping
Based on the COMSOL layout in Fig. 5.6, the air velocity distribution surround-
ing the bar for different perforation size and pitch (p = 5m) are calculated, as shown
in Fig. 6.16. The higher perforated resonators have a lower air displacement under
107
(a) Variation of the Youngs Modulus ver- (b) Variation of the Poisson ratio versus the
sus the effective density. effective density.
Figure 6.15: Variation of the mechanical properties and resonance frequency with the
resonator effective density calculated though the static pull test.
108
the same applied force. Thus, wider perforated bars suffer from higher viscous damp-
ing than the normal full bars. On the other hand, adding the perorations reduce the
contact surface area between the resonator and the surrounding air. In turn, the slide
film damping is lowered. Figure 6.17 shows the pressure distribution along the gap.
Figure 6.16: COMSOL simulation for the air velocity surrounding the MEMA based
resonator.
Higher perforated bars exhibit lower pressure along the gap and in turn lower squeeze
film damping.
We calculated the harmonic response for both families of MEMA resonators to com-
pletely model air damping effect including both slide and squeeze film damping cases.
The quality factor is extracted from the harmonic response of the resonator. Figure
6.18 shows the drop of the Q-factor with increasing the perforation size for a pitch of
5 m. The Q-factor degradation is attributed to drop in the energy stored within the
resonator and the increased air losses within the perforations of the resonator (more
air squeezing).
109
Figure 6.17: COMSOL simulation of the air pressure along the transduction gap of
the MEMA based resonator.
Figure 6.18: Air limited Q-factor of the meta-material based resonator versus the
perforation size with a perforation pitch of 5 m, computed numerically and experi-
mentally.
110
Motional resistance
Based on the COMSOL model discussed in Fig. 5.7, the motional resistance
versus the DC applied voltage for different perforation densities (ef f = 1.0 0.68)
are estimated as shown in Fig. 6.19. The motional resistance is almost unaffected
Figure 6.19: Motional resistance variation versus the DC applied voltage for different
perforation densities computed experimentally and numerically.
by perforations (ef f = 1.0 0.68). This is explained in the light of Eq. (5.56)
that the decline in the resonator mechanical prosperities completely compensates for
the resonators Q-factor drop. As shown in Table 6.2, the validity of the numerical
111
Table 6.2: Extracted harmonic response parameters for MEM BAW bar type res-
onators
Specification Full bar Perforated bar
Frequency [MHz] - Model 25.4 21.5
Frequency [MHz] - Measured 24.8 20.4
Q-factor - Model 13370 6700
Q-factor - Measured 13820 6300
Motional resistance - Model [MOhm] 0.88 0.9
Motional resistance- Measured [MOhm] 0.81 0.87
RLC extraction
Using COMSOL simulations and Eq. (6.2), the harmonic response is evaluated
where L and C are the equivalent inductance and capacitance for the bar resonator
respectively.
Figure 6.20: Equivalent circuit for which the equivalent parameters are extracted.
Table 6.2 summarizes the extracted harmonic response parameters computed nu-
merically. The results are verified experimentally using the setup discussed in Chapter
112
Figure 6.21: Harmonic response of the MEMA resonator under a DC voltage of 50
V computed numerically and experimentally.
4. A good match is seen for Q-factor and motional resistance between numerical and
experimental results. Except for the resonance frequency, there is a slight deviation
Figure 6.21 shows the harmonic response of the MEMA based BAW bar type resonator
using RLC circuit, extracted both numerically and experimenally for DC biasing of
6.4.2 Bio-sensitivity
Maximizing the bio-sensitivity for the N / MEM resonator is considered the ulti-
mate goal for this thesis. Firstly, we study the impact of BAW bar type thickness on
Based on Eq. (5.59), thicker resonators have a lower bio-sensitivity due to their
113
increased mass. Accordingly, thinner resonators are favoured for bio-sensing applica-
tions. However, thin resonators suffer from high motional resistance upon capacitive
For the MEMA resonators, highly perforated thick resonator becomes totally inde-
pendent of the bar thickness as shown in Fig. 6.22. Increasing the bar thickness leads
to increased resonator mass that is totally compensated by the increase surface area
leading to constant surface area to volume ratio as given in Eq. (5.60). Therefore,
MEMA based BAW resonators offer a highly sensitive low motional resistance res-
onators which isnt the case for typical BAW bar type resonators.
Table 6.3 shows the computed sensitivity for the two families of BAW resonators
Figure 6.22: Bio-sensitivity variation versus the perforation density with a pitch =
2.5 m and different thickness.
being considered. It can be seen that the bio-sensitivity is enhanced with around 5
times, when MEMA resonators are used, compared to the standard solid bars. Also,
114
Table 6.3: Bio-sensitivity for MEMA resonators.
Bio-sensitivity Full bars Perforated bars
Analytical 27 133
Numerical 28.3 136
there is matching between the numerical and analytical results that validates the pre-
vious equations.
Increasing the perforation density increases the resonator surface area to volume ratio
which improves the resonator bio-sensitivity. However, bar perforation degrades the
Figure 6.23 shows the variation of FOM versus the perforation size for three distinct
perforation pitches: 2.5 , 5 and 10 m respectively. As seen in the figures, for each
perforation pitch, there is an optimum hole size that should be selected for reducing
the lower bound of the mass detection. Upon increasing the perforation size beyond
this optimum value, the Q-factor degradation dominates the surface areca enhance-
ment and mass reduction. This leads to an increase of the minimum limit despite the
On the other hand, smaller perforations have a lower surface area to volume ratio
limiting the overall performance of the resonator. However, for certain perforation
pitch, i.e. greater than 10 m, the non-perforated bar is the optimum design for the
Figure 6.24 shows the effect of varying the perforation pitch on the (FOM). The max-
imum FOM for different hole sizes is selected for a given perforation pitch. Higher
115
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 6.23: FOM of MEMA resonators versus the hole size for different perforation
pitch.
perforation pitch with high perforation size is the best choice for enhancing the con-
centration sensitivity. This leads us to the fact that using the porous material as a
building material for the resonator may yield the best bio-sensing performance.
Figure 6.24: FOM for different perforation pitches of MEMA BAW bar type resonator.
116
6.4.3 Experimental verification of bio-sensitivity
In the previous section, we have shown numerically and analytically that the per-
forating bar resonators with a certain size and pitch highly increase the resonator
tions.
Using the functionlization steps and measurement setup discussed in Chapter 4, the
resonator bio-sensitivity is measured for both perforated and solid BAW bar res-
onators. Figure 6.25 shows the resonance frequency variation for the two families
of the bar type BAW resonators before and after being exposed to the DNA. Using
the definition of bio-sensitivity in Eq. (5.58), the bio-sensitivity of the MEMA based
resonator is 5 times higher than that of the full bar resonators. This increases in
frequency shift with the perforation is attributed to the enhanced surface area to
volume ratio offered by the MEMA bar resonators, which allows more molecules to
tance towards building a commercially viable biosensor. Levering the knowledge and
understanding developed during the analytical and numerically study of the BAW res-
the surface area to volume ratio of the resonator to achieve the desired improvement
in the resonators bio-sensitivity was obtained by using square perforated bar type
BAW resonators, compared to the typical solid bar type BAW resonators.
117
(a)
(b)
118
Figure 6.25: Resonance frequency shift on exposure to DNA (a) Non-perforated bars
(b) Perforated bars.
6.5.1 MEM resonators
In this section, we present new designs for BAW and flexural resonators that
offered much higher surface area than the simple square perforated resonators. We
used fractal cells, as those shown in Fig. 6.26 as the building unit for the bar. These
fractal unit cell designs lead to lower mass and a range of surface area to volume ratio
all of which are much higher than the previously used simple square as given in table
6.4.
(a) Zeroth order unit (b) First order unit cell (c) Second order unit cell
cell
Table 6.4: Surface area to volume ratio for different order of fractal cells.
Unit Cell Surface area to volume ratio
th
0 Order Cell 12.23 [m1 ]
1st Order Cell 96.11 [m1 ]
nd
2 Order Cell 160.55 [m1 ]
The proposed new designed structures are divided into two groups: flexural and
bulk resonators. Each group has four types of devices: solid (without perforations),
119
normally perforated (uniform square holes), fractal first order and fractal second order
based resonators.
The flexural resonators group include cantilevers and DCBs with various length and
width. Figure 6.27 shows the layout of four distinct types of out of plane DCB
(a) Double clamped beam resonators with normal (b) Double clamped beams with a first order
square perforations. fractal structures.
(c) Double clamped beams with a second order (d) Double clamped beams with a second or-
fractal structures. der fractal structures.
Figure 6.27: DCB resonators with different fractal cells. The inset is a magnification
of the perforation shape on the beam. The designation of the 1,2,3 and 4 labeled
structures are given in Table 6.5
120
The second group consists of BAW bar type resonators. These are bar type exten-
sional resonators suspended in free space by means of T-support and are capacitively
transduced through a horizontal gap of 500 nm. We have four families of the BAW
bars with different fractal cells. They are fabricated from SiGe with a structural layer
Figure 6.28 shows the layout of the BAW bar type resonators. The anchor dimensions
for each structure are selected to match the acoustic impedance between the resonator
and the substrate, hence improving the resonator Q-factor [22]. Each resonator shape
has six replicas with different support length around their optimum values to test its
(a) Non - perforated (b) Perforated bar (c) Fractal first order (d) Fractal second or-
bar type BAW res- type BAW resonator. based bar type BAW der based bar type
onator. resonator. BAW resonator
Figure 6.28: Capacitive extensional BAW resonators with different unit cells. The
inset is a magnification of the perforation shape on the beam. The designation of the
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 labeled structures are given in Table 6.6
121
Table 6.6: Pad designation for the extensional bar resonator.
Pad 1 2 3 4 5 6
Function Bar Electrode Bar Bar Electrode Bar
was also extended beyond capacitively coupled resonators discussed earlier to electro-
signal to noise ratio. The resonator consists of two rectangular bars connected by
means of thin beam springs [129]. The positioning and anchoring of the springs are
accurately selected to minimize the anchor losses and slightly affect the mode shape.
The layouts for the piezo-resistive resonator with different fractal cells are shown in
Fig. 6.29.
in the dynamic range of the lame mode resonator is expected, which is beneficial
for use as a biosensor. We considered designing lame mode bar type resonator and
comparing its performance to the extensional mode. In that regard, we used three
different schemes for anchoring the lame mode resonator: T - support, I - support
and the stem support. Figure 6.30 shows the layout for the lame mode resonators
Based on the aforementioned new designs, wafers are currently being manufactured
at imec.
122
(a) Non-perforated piezo-resistive extensional (b) Perforated piezo-resistive extensional bar
bar type BAW resonators. type BAW resonators.
(c) Fractal first order piezo-resistive extensional (d) Fractal second order piezo-resistive exten-
bar type BAW resonators. sional bar type BAW resonators.
(a) I - Supported resonator. (b) T - Supported resonator. (c) Stem - supported res-
onator.
Figure 6.30: Different anchoring schemes for lame mode resonators. The designation
of the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 labeled structures are given in Table 6.7
123
Table 6.7: Pad designation for lame mode bar resonator.
Pad 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Function Bar Elect1 Elect2 Bar Bar Elect3 Elect4 Bar
and DCBs). The new designs are divided into three main groups based on the trans-
duction mechanism. The first group is capacitively actuated and capacitively sensed,
the second group is capacitively actuated piezo-resistivity sensed and the last group
is thermally actuated and piezo-restively sensed. Our main goal is to identify the best
the capacitance variation due to the resonator motion. Detecting the resonator
motion capacitively is difficult due to the small dimensions of the resonators (<
the high frequency operation of the resonator (> 100M Hz) leads to an increase in
the feed-through current over the motional current, degrading the resonator signal to
noise ratio. Therefore, we developed an dual port inter-digitated design [18]. Figure
6.31 shows two different designs for NEM flexural resonator, the typical design with
a single electrode for sensing and actuation.and the interdigitated design with two
sperate electrodes, one for sensing and the other for actuation. The inter-digitated
design reduce the overlap surface area between the electrodes and the resonator which
reduce the overlap capacitance and in turn the feed-through current. Also, we used
124
arrays to facilitate the detection of the resonator motion. Different number of ele-
ments are considered for the arrays: 2 - 8 -16. Within the arrays, we used different
electrode configuration for the sensing and actuation. Figure 6.32 shows the layout
Concerning the second group, the structures are capacitively actuated by apply-
(a) Typical NEM resonator with a single (b) A modified NEM resonator with sepa-
electrode for sensing and actuation. rate electrodes, one for sensing and the other
for actuation.
ing a given voltage. Piezo-resistivity material is used to detect the resonator motion
by passing current through the resonator and calculate its variation. The motion
of the beam results in expansion and contraction changing the resonator electrical
resistance. For this group, we also used an array of resonators connected in series to
The third group contains thermally actuated resonators. The resonator is actuated by
passing a current in it. This current heats the resonator and generates temperature
Similar to the MEMS designs, we used fractal based cells to increase the resonator
surface area to volume ratio. We also used arrays to increase the overlap surface
125
between the resonator and the electrode.
circuit for the solid bar resonator. Using COMSOL simulations, we extracted the
In this section, we show the simulation results for the sensing circuit, including the
DC, AC and transient analysis. Moreover, we study the effect of increasing the
resonator mass, circuit parasitic on the system overall response. Figure 6.33 shows
the DC transfer characteristics for the amplifier using the transistor dimensions given
in table 6.8 . The operating voltage are 50 V and 2 V for the DC and AC biasing
voltages. The transistor dimensions are selected to achieve maximum gain around
zero DC operating point. Figures 6.34 and 6.35 show the frequency and transient
response for the readout circuit, respectively. On proper selecting the DC operating
126
Figure 6.33: H-spice simulated DC transfer characteristics of the readout circuit.
127
Figure 6.35: H-spice simulated transient response of the readout circuit on driving
the resonator with a sinusoidal signal.
points on the gate, we sweep the resonator mass and check the circuit response as
given in Fig. 6.36 where the added mass reduce the resonance frequency.
128
Figure 6.36: H-spice simulated Frequency response of readout circuit on varying the
resonator mass.
129
CHAPTER 7
Our main aim in this thesis is to develop new mechanical devices with enhanced
resonator for the bio-sensing. These beams show low Q-factor and low surface area to
volume ratio. We presented an analytical model for predicting the resonator response
under ambient pressure condition where the squeeze film damping dominates the res-
onator response. Using this model, we performed a parametric study on the resonator
Making use of the technology advances, we designed and model nano-resonators with
a thickness of 50 nm and length of few micron. Within the nano - scale regime, the
resonator vibration detection becomes more difficult, especially with the increased
lumped model to study the impact of the nonlinearity introduced by the intermolecu-
lar forces and accurately predict its behaviour. A decrease in the pull-in parameters is
found along with a reduction in both the resonance frequency and the critical ampli-
tude. We have also shown the intermolecular forces result in a reduction of the energy
130
from literature, showing a negligible impact on stiff resonators but a significant im-
pact on the low stiffness DCB study cases, where, the intermolecular forces lead to 1%
resonance frequency shift and 33% reduction of critical amplitude. Despite the slight
impact of the intermolecular forces on most current resonators, we expect that with
Flexural resonator such as cantilevers and DCBs suffer from lower surface area to
volume ratio and Q-factor under ambient pressure condition. This push us to go for
As our last candidate, we designed, modeled and characterized MEMA based BAW
bar resonator where square perforations are included within the resonator mechani-
cal layer. These perforations increase the resonator surface area to volume ratio and
reduce its mass. Numerical simulations were performed to predict the resonator har-
monic response. The equivalent electrical circuit components were extracted and ver-
ified experimentally. We found that these perforations reduce the resonator Youngs
modulus and poisson ratio. Therefore, the resonance frequency is reduced with in-
creasing the perforation density. Similarly, the Q-factor decreases with the perforation
size under the ambient pressure conditions due to the increased air friction. However,
Analytical model was developed to predict the MEMA BAW resonators bio-sensitivity.
The model results were verified numerically by COMSOL simulations. Using this
bar resonator (ef f = 0.68) has 5 times higher bio-sensitivity compared to the non-
131
developed an optimization scheme for maximizing the resonator bio-sensitivity for a
These results show the importance of increasing the resonator surface area to vol-
ume ratio on the its bio-performance. Based on this conclusion, we designed new
resonators which include Koch fractal cells within its structural layer. These designs
offer higher surface area to volume ratio and higher Q-factor compared to the square
perforated MEMA BAW resonators. Currently, these structures are under fabrication
132
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