1993 Publications

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The year 1993 yielded some important demonstrations that seeded methods in use more than 20 years later. Specifically, June brought the first demonstration of fully-integrated single-chip oven-control to stabilize the resonance frequency of a micromechanical resonator against temperature variation. This work also marked the first time MEMS researchers noticed that heavy doping of silicon (or polysilicon) reduces the resonance frequency temperature dependence. Later this year, an IEDM publication in December then described the demonstration of the first fully-integrated single-chip oscillator combining a polysilicon micromechanical resonator with CMOS integrated circuits. This oscillator was essentially a precursor to MEMS-based real-time clocks commercialized 20 years later (in two-chip realizations). Interestingly, despite the success of the MEMS-based timing industry, single-chip integration still eludes the commercial market.

C. T.-C. Nguyen and R. T. Howe, “Microresonator frequency control and stabilization using an integrated micro oven,” Digest of Technical Papers, the 7th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors and Actuators (Transducers’93), Yokohama, Japan, pp. 1040-1043, June 7-10, 1993.

C. T.-C. Nguyen and R. T. Howe, “CMOS Micromechanical Resonator Oscillator,” Technical Digest, IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, Washington, DC, pp. 199-202, December 5-8, 1993.