Experimental investigation of temperature and relative humidity effects on resonance frequency and quality factor of CMOS-MEMS paddle resonator

This paper reports an experimental approach to analyse the performance of an externally actuated CMOS-MEMS paddle resonator with proof mass. The surface morphology test of the device is performed with the help of field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), before and after the reliability tests. The effects of temperature variation on the resonance frequency response of the fabricated CMOS-MEMS resonator is analysed under the variation of temperature from 25 degrees C to 80 degrees C inside a custom made environmental chamber at a constant relative humidity (32%RH). In the next step, the variation in the quality factor of the MEMS resonator is studied under the effect of varying temperature. Finally, the resonance frequency behavior is analysed under the variation of relative humidity from 32%RH to 90%RH at a constant temperature of 25 degrees C. The device is found to be eroded and there are some wastes of humidity on it. A total change of 6.9 Hz in resonance frequency is recorded from 25 degrees C to 80 degrees C. The drop in the resonance frequency of the MEMS device is found to be 137 MHz/degrees C with the rise in temperature. Under the temperature variation from 25 degrees C to 80 degrees C, the quality factor is found to be nonlinear. A total change of 13 Hz in the resonance frequency is observed from 32%RH to 90%RH. The resonance frequency is found to be -21.8 MHz/RH% with an increasing humidity level. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.