For decades, atomic clocks have provided the most stable means of timekeeping. They measure time by oscillating in step with the resonant frequency of atoms, a method so accurate that it serves as the basis for the definition of a second.
Now, a new challenger has emerged in the timekeeping arena. Researchers recently developed a tiny, MEMS-based clock that makes use of silicon doping to gain record stability. After running for eight hours, the clock only deviated by 102 nanoseconds, approaching the standard of atomic clocks while both requiring less physical space and less power to run. Doing so has been a challenge in the past because of the chaos that even slight temperature variations can introduce into timekeeping.
The group presented their new clock at the 71st Annual IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting last week.
Saving Space and Power
The MEMS clock is built from a few tightly connected parts, all integrated on a chip smaller than the face of a sugar cube. At its center, a silicon plate topped with a piezoelectric film vibrates at its natural frequencies, while nearby electronic circuitry measures those vibrations. A tiny, built-in heater gently keeps the whole structure at an optimal temperature. Because the resonator, electronics, and heater are all close together, they can work as a coordinated system: the resonator creates the timing signal, the electronics monitor and adjust it, and the heater prevents temperature swings from causing drift.
This clock is unique in a few ways, explains project advisor and University of Michigan MEMS engineer Roozbeh Tabrizian. For one, the resonator is “extremely stable amid variations in environment,” he says. “You could actually change the temperature from minus 40 °C all the way to 85 °C and you essentially don’t see any change in the frequency.”
The resonator is so stable because the silicon from which it’s crafted has been doped with phosphorus, Tabrizian says. When a material is doped, impurities are added into it, typically to change its conductive properties. Here, though, the group used doping specifically to stabilize mechanical properties. “We’re controlling the mechanics in a very tight way so that the elasticity of the material does not change upon temperature variations,” he says.
Some other materials, like the commonly used timing crystal quartz, can also be doped for robustness. But “you cannot miniaturize [quartz] and you have a lot of limitations in terms of packaging,” Tabrizian explains. “Semiconductor manufacturing benefits from size miniaturization,” so it is an obvious choice for next-generation clocks.
The doping also allows the electronics to actively tune out any small drifts in frequency over long periods. This attribute is “the most distinctive aspect of our device physics compared to previous MEMS clocks,” Tabrizian says. By making the silicon conductive, the doping lets the electronics subtly adjust how strongly the device is mechanically driven, which counteracts slow shifts in frequency.
This system is also unique in its integration of autonomous temperature sensing and adjustment, says Banafsheh Jabbari, a graduate student at the University of Michigan who led the project. “This clock resonator is operating in two modes [or, resonant frequencies], essentially. The main mode of the clock is very stable and we use it as the [time] reference. The other one is the temperature sensor.” The latter acts like an internal thermometer, helping the electronics automatically detect temperature shifts and adjust both the heater and the main timing mode itself. This built-in self-correction helps the clock maintain steady time even as the surrounding environment changes.
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