Solved with COMSOL Multiphysics 4.

2a

Transient Response of a Biased Resonator

Introduction
Silicon micromechanical resonators have long been used for designing sensors and are now becoming increasingly important as oscillators in the consumer electronics market. In this sequence of models, a surface micromachined MEMS resonator, designed as part of a micromechanical filter, is analyzed in detail. The resonator is based on that developed in Ref. 1. This model performs a transient analysis of the response of the structure when a step function is applied to the resonator. The analysis begins from the previously performed Stationary Analysis, available in the file: biased_resonator_basic.mph (please review this model first).

Model Definition
The geometry, fabrication and operation of the device are discussed in the accompanying model: biased_resonator_basic.mph. This model performs a time domain analysis on the structure, when the applied bias of 35 V is switched on. The transition time of the step is 0.5 s. Since the response of the system is required, damping must be added to the model. For this study it is assumed that the damping mechanism is Rayleigh damping or material damping. This damping model is discussed in more detail in the accompanying frequency-domain analysis: biased_resonator_freq.mph. The damping factors used in the model are: dM = 4189 Hz and dK = 8.291013 s, consistent with the observed quality factor of 8000 for the fundamental mode.

Results and Discussion

The bias voltage applied to the device is shown in Figure 1 and its amplitude response is shown in Figure 2.

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Figure 1: Step function bias applied to the drive electrode.

Figure 2: Time domain response of the device.

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Figure 2 shows that the position of the actuator initially follows the drive voltage, changing on a similar time scale. After the voltage stops changing, the displacement oscillates about the DC steady state deflection, close to 12.6 nm (this is in agreement with the stationary study with the same applied voltage). The oscillation is clearly under damped and the amplitude does not decrease significantly on the time scale that the model was run for. With such a large quality factor resonator a large number of cycles would need to be solved for to see the decay of the oscillation. Given the small time span of the solution, it is difficult to estimate the frequency of the resonance accurately, however, the period is approximately 0.13 s which is close to the period of the fundamental, which at this bias is 0.124 s.

Reference
1. F.D. Bannon III, J.R. Clark and C.T.-C. Nguyen, High-Q HF Microelectromechanical Filters, IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 512526, 2000.

Model Library path: MEMS_Module/Actuators/

biased_resonator_2d_transient

Modeling Instructions
Open the existing stationary study (filename: biased_resonator_2d_basic.mph).
1 From the View menu, choose Model Library. 2 Go to the Model Library window. 3 In the Model Library tree, select MEMS Module>Actuators>biased resonator 2d basic. 4 Click Open. 5 Click the Zoom Extents button on the Graphics toolbar.
GLOBAL DEFINITIONS

Parameters
Create parameters for the material damping factors.
1 In the Model Builder window, expand the Global Definitions node, then click Parameters.

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2 Go to the Settings window for Parameters. 3 Locate the Parameters section. In the Parameters table, enter the following settings:
NAME EXPRESSION DESCRIPTION

alpha beta MODEL 1

4189 [Hz] 8.29e-13[s]

Damping parameter - alpha Damping parameter - beta

Add damping to the physics settings. In the Model Builder window, expand the Model 1 node.
ELECTROMECHANICS

Linear Elastic Material Model 1

In the Model Builder window, expand the Electromechanics node.

Damping 1
1 Right-click Linear Elastic Material Model 1 and choose Damping. 2 Go to the Settings window for Damping. 3 Locate the Damping Settings section. In the dM edit field, type alpha. 4 In the dK edit field, type beta.
DEFINITIONS

Define the step function bias.

Step 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Model 1>Definitions and choose Functions>Step. 2 Go to the Settings window for Step. 3 Locate the Function Name section. In the Function name edit field, type Vapp. 4 Locate the Parameters section. In the Location edit field, type 3e-7. 5 In the To edit field, type Vdc. 6 Click to expand the Smoothing section. 7 In the Size of transition zone edit field, type 5e-7. 8 Click the Create Plot button.

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RESULTS

Data Sets
1 In the Model Builder window, expand the Results>Data Sets node, then click Function 1D 1. 2 Go to the Settings window for Function 1D. 3 Locate the Parameter Bounds section. In the Maximum edit field, type 12E-7. 4 In the Minimum edit field, type 0.

1D Plot Group 1
1 In the Model Builder window, click 1D Plot Group 1. 2 Go to the Settings window for 1D Plot Group. 3 Locate the Plot Settings section. Select the x-axis label check box. 4 In the associated edit field, type Time (s). 5 Select the y-axis label check box. 6 In the associated edit field, type Bias Voltage (V). 7 Right-click 1D Plot Group 1 and choose Rename. 8 Go to the Rename 1D Plot Group dialog box and type Applied Voltage Step in

the New name edit field.

9 Click OK.

This plot shows the form of the applied voltage. Compare with Figure 1.
ELECTROMECHANICS

Set the applied voltage to the defined step function.

Electric Potential 3
1 In the Model Builder window, click Model 1>Electromechanics>Electric Potential 3. 2 Go to the Settings window for Electric Potential. 3 Locate the Electric Potential section. In the V0 edit field, type Vapp(t/1[s]).
DEFINITIONS

Create an integration operator to track the displacement of the midpoint of the beam with time.

Integration 1a
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Model 1>Definitions and choose Model Couplings>Integration.

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2 Go to the Settings window for Integration. 3 Locate the Source Selection section. From the Geometric entity level list, choose Point. 4 Select Point 38 only. 5 Locate the Advanced section. From the Frame list, choose Material (X, Y, Z).

Create a probe to store the displacement at all the time steps computed by the solver.
6 In the Model Builder window, right-click Definitions and choose Probes>Global Variable Probe. 7 Go to the Settings window for Global Variable Probe. 8 Locate the Expression section. In the Expression edit field, type intop1(v).

Add a transient study to the model.

MODEL WIZARD

1 In the Model Builder window, right-click biased_resonator_2d_basic.mph and choose Add Study. 2 Go to the Model Wizard window. 3 Find the Studies subsection. In the tree, select Preset Studies>Time Dependent. 4 Click Finish.
STUDY 2

Step 1: Time Dependent

1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Study 2 and choose Rename. 2 Go to the Rename Study dialog box and type Transient in the New name edit field. 3 Click OK. 4 In the Model Builder window, click Step 1: Time Dependent. 5 Go to the Settings window for Time Dependent. 6 Locate the Study Settings section. In the Times edit field, type
range(0,1.2e-7,12e-7).

Change the relative tolerance to reduce the solver steps.

7 Select the Relative tolerance check box. 8 In the associated edit field, type 1e-5.

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TR A N S I E N T

Turn off the default plots.

1 In the Model Builder window, click biased_resonator_2d_basic.mph>Transient. 2 Go to the Settings window for Study. 3 Locate the Study Settings section. Clear the Generate default plots check box.

Scale the dependent variables appropriately to reflect the small length scales in the problem.

Solver 2
1 Right-click biased_resonator_2d_basic.mph>Transient and choose Show Default Solver. 2 In the Model Builder window, expand the Solver 2 node. 3 In the Model Builder window, expand the Dependent Variables 1 node, then click mod1.u. 4 Go to the Settings window for Field. 5 Locate the Scaling section. From the Method list, choose Manual. 6 In the Scale edit field, type 1e-6. 7 In the Model Builder window, click Dependent Variables 1>mod1.xy. 8 Go to the Settings window for Field. 9 Locate the Scaling section. From the Method list, choose Manual. 1 In the Scale edit field, type 1e-6. 0

Change the absolute tolerance to a value less than the relative tolerance.
1 In the Model Builder window, click Time-Dependent Solver 1. 1 1 Go to the Settings window for Time-Dependent Solver. 2 1 Click to expand the Absolute Tolerance section. 3 1 In the Tolerance edit field, type 1e-6. 4

Set the maximum solver time step to ensure that the frequency of interest is resolved.
1 Click to expand the Time Stepping section. 5 1 From the Method list, choose Generalized alpha. 6 1 Select the Maximum step check box. 7 1 In the associated edit field, type 0.2e-7. 8 1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Transient and choose Compute. 9

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RESULTS

Create a plot to show the displacement of the mid point of the resonator as a function of time.

1D Plot Group 5
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Results and choose 1D Plot Group. 2 Go to the Settings window for 1D Plot Group. 3 Locate the Data section. From the Data set list, choose None. 4 Locate the Plot Settings section. Select the x-axis label check box. 5 In the associated edit field, type Time (s). 6 Select the y-axis label check box. 7 In the associated edit field, type Midpoint Displacement (um). 8 Right-click 1D Plot Group 5 and choose Table Graph. 9 Right-click 1D Plot Group 5 and choose Rename. 10 Go to the Rename 1D Plot Group dialog box and type Transient Point
Displacement in the New name edit field.

11 Click OK. 12 Right-click 1D Plot Group 5 and choose Plot.

Compare this plot with Figure 2.

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