10.1002/adem.202201837">
 

Title

Effects of Gamma Ray Radiation on the Performance of Microelectromechanical Resonators

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-31-2023

Abstract

While much radiation test data is available for metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices, research into the effects of radiation on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is in its relative infancy. Piezoelectrically transduced MEMS resonators have broad applications in signal processing, environmental monitoring, and navigation. Aluminum nitride (AlN), in particular, is an attractive piezoelectric because of its favorable fabrication characteristics and ease of integration into the complementary MOS (CMOS) manufacturing process. The utility of these devices in space and nuclear systems necessitates research into their performance in radiation environments. Resiliency and an established relationship between radiation dose and device behavior provide a critical tool for engineers in their design process. We create multiple AlN-based MEMS resonator designs and expose the devices to 1 Mrad(Si) gamma irradiation from a Cobalt-60 source while measuring scattering (S-) parameters in situ. The experimental data is matched to a theoretical model to describe the change in frequency as a function of radiation-induced displacement damage. We also demonstrate that the AlN-based resonators are resilient against radiation-induced charge-trapping effects. Furthermore, we present a new method of permanent frequency trimming MEMS resonators up to 30% of their bandwidth without modifying quality factor or motional resistance.

Comments

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This article is accepted for publication in a future issue of Advanced Engineering Materials (ISSN 1438-1656), published by Wiley-VCH Verlag.

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"This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record."

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Source Publication

Advanced Engineering Materials

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