Development of temperature-stable, high-performance silicon resonators

我们对物联网模块、可穿戴设备和移动的计算平台形式的智能系统的依赖正在迅速增长，每年销售数十亿套此类系统。这些复杂的系统依赖于集成在芯片、封装或板级的硅微机械或微电子器件。这些独立的系统利用参考振荡器来同步事件或在彼此之间以及与其他系统通信。石英谐振器目前用于实现这些基准振荡器，占75亿美元定时市场的大部分。然而，由于石英谐振器不能集成在硅微系统内，因此已经做出了重大努力来开发硅谐振器以取代石英。硅谐振器的高温度敏感性一直是它们在定时基准中采用的主要障碍。尽管有大量的实验室演示，但大多数提出的解决方案并没有演变成可扩展的制造解决方案。一方面，学术界的工作往往依赖于稀疏的经验数据，并在大规模制造业的约束下孤立地进行。另一方面，过程优化是一个复杂的多变量问题，无法通过有限的实验来解决。该项目将SFU的研究人员与积极的工业合作伙伴Stathera聚集在一起，开发可扩展的被动温度补偿技术，以竞争或超越石英晶体的性能。该团队将为不同工艺参数下硅的热响应开发多尺度、基于物理的模型。这些模型将通过SFU的制造运行进行实验评估。最有前途的解决方案将通过铸造运行进行尝试。研究结果将用于改进模型和设计未来产品开发的设备设计方法。拟议研究的多学科性质将吸引来自不同背景的研究人员。通过认真考虑和处理公平和包容性问题，该项目为培训12名将领导加拿大在这一领域的参与的HQP创造了一个极好的机会。

Our reliance on smart systems in the form of IoT modules, wearables, and mobile computing platforms is rapidly growing, where billions of such systems are sold annually. These complex systems rely on silicon micromechanical or microelectronic devices that are integrated at the chip, package, or board levels. These independent systems utilize reference oscillators to synchronize events or communicate between each other and with other systems. Quartz resonators are presently used to realize these reference oscillators and account for most of the US $7.5B timing market. However, since quartz resonators cannot be integrated within silicon microsystems, there has been a significant effort to develop silicon resonators to replace quartz. The high temperature sensitivity of silicon resonators has been the major obstacle to their adoption in timing references. Despite numerous laboratory demonstrations, most proposed solutions do not evolve into scalable manufacturing solutions. On the one hand, the work in academia has often relied on sparse empirical data and pursued in isolation from the constraints of large-scale manufacturing. On the other hand, process optimization is a complex, multi-variable problem that cannot be solved through limited experiments. This project brings together the researchers at SFU with a motivated industrial partner, Stathera, to develop scalable, passive temperature compensation techniques to rival or exceed the performance of quartz crystals. The team will develop multiscale, physics-based models for the thermal response of silicon under different processing parameters. These models will be evaluated experimentally through fabrication runs at SFU. The most promising solutions will then be tried through foundry runs. The results will be used to improve models and devise device design methods for future product development.The multidisciplinary nature of the proposed research will appeal to researchers from diverse backgrounds. By carefully considering and attending to equity and inclusivity issues, this project creates an excellent opportunity to train 12 HQP who will lead Canada's engagement in this field.