Differential amplification of structural perturbations in weakly coupled MEMS resonators

Measuring shifts in eigenstates caused by vibration localization in an array of weakly coupled resonators offers 2 distinct advantages for sensor applications compared with the technique of simply measuring resonant frequency shifts: 1) orders of magnitude enhancement in parametric sensitivity; and 2) intrinsic common mode rejection. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate the common mode rejection in weakly coupled MEMS resonators with significant potential implications for sensor applications. The vibration behavior is studied in pairs of nearly identical MEMS resonators that are electrically coupled and subjected to small perturbations in stiffness under different ambient pressure and temperature. The shifts in the eigenstates for the same parametric perturbation in stiffness are experimentally demonstrated to be more than 3 orders of magnitude greater than corresponding resonant frequency variations. They are also shown to remain relatively constant to variations in ambient temperature and pressure. This increased relative robustness to environmental drift, along with the advantage of ultra-high parametric sensitivity, opens the door to an alternative approach to achieving higher sensitivity and stability in micromechanical sensors.