An electronically temperature-compensated 427MHz low phase-noise AlN-on-Si micromechanical reference oscillator

Abstract

This paper reports on the first demonstration of series tuning for lateral micromechanical oscillators and its application in a temperature-compensated 427MHz AlN-on-Si reference oscillator. The sustaining amplifier is a 13mW tunable TIA implemented in 0.18µm CMOS that uses shunt-parasitic cancellation to increase the tuning by 12× to 810ppm. The tunable oscillator along with a 2mW on-chip temperature compensation circuit has reduced the overall frequency drift to 70ppm in −10°C to 70°C. The phase-noise of the oscillator reaches −82dBc/Hz at 1kHz offset with floor below −147dBc/Hz.