A Compact and Low-Power CMOS Circuit for Fully-Integrated NEMS Resonators

This brief presents a fully integrated nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) resonator, operable at frequencies in the megahertz range, together with a compact built-in CMOS interfacing circuitry. The proposed low-power second-generation current conveyor circuit allows detailed read-out of the nanocantilever structure for either extraction of equivalent circuit models or comparative studies at different pressure and dc biasing conditions. In this sense, extensive experimental results are presented for a real mixed electromechanical system integrated through a combination of in-house standard CMOS technology and nanodevice post-processing by nanostencil lithography. The proposed read-out scheme can be easily adapted to operate the nanocantilever in closed loop operation as a stand-alone NEMS oscillator.