Employing piezojunction effect for ultra-low power resonant microdevice applications

We are reporting on application of the piezojunction effect as a viable mechanism for detection of resonance frequency in silicon microdevices. In this technique, the sensing pn-junction is reverse-biased, therefore, due to low sensing current, the required power for detection of resonance is rather small. A bulk extensional resonator with an embedded pn-junction has been designed, fabricated, and characterized to serve as a proof-of-concept structure. The experiments have shown that a power consumption as low as 37nW was needed for detection of extensional-mode of the resonator at a resonant frequency of 9MHz.