A vibrator that includes a silicon substrate, an electrode facing a surface of the silicon substrate, and a piezoelectric body between the silicon substrate and the electrode and that produces contour vibration in a plane along the surface of the silicon substrate in accordance with a voltage applied to the electrode. The vibrator includes one or more substantially rectangular vibration regions each having a long side parallel to a node of the contour vibration of the piezoelectric body and a short side orthogonal to the node of the contour vibration of the piezoelectric body and corresponding to a half-wavelength of the contour vibration. The resonator satisfies W/T4 and y=0.85(1/T)+0.570.05 where T is the thickness of the silicon substrate, W is the width of the short side of the vibration region, and y is the resistivity of the silicon substrate.

A resonator includes an anchor, an outer stiffener ring on an outer perimeter of the resonator, and a plurality of curved springs between the anchor and the outer stiffener ring.

A MEMS resonator is equipped with a substrate, a moving structure suspended above the substrate in a horizontal plane formed by first and second axes, having first and second arms, parallel to one another and extending along the second axis, coupled at their respective ends by first and second transverse joining elements, forming an internal window. A first electrode structure is positioned outside the window and capacitively coupled to the moving structure. A second electrode structure is positioned inside the window. One of the first and second electrode structures causes an oscillatory movement of the flexing arms in opposite directions along the first horizontal axis at a resonance frequency, and the other electrode structure has a function of detecting the oscillation. A suspension structure has a suspension arm in the window. An attachment arrangement is coupled to the suspension element centrally in the window, near the second electrode structure.

A resonator array comprises substantially paralleled first and second resonant layers having resonating masses. A first set of lateral drive electrodes cause the first resonating mass to vibrate along an axis in a first geometric plane. A second set of lateral drive electrodes cause the second resonating mass to vibrate along an axis in a second geometric plane in an opposite direction of the first resonating mass by about 180 degrees. Rotation in the system causes the masses to vibrate out-of-plane in opposite directions. The opposite vibrational directions of the first and second resonating masses produces a balanced system with small motion in a bonding area between the stacked resonators. As a result, there is minimal propagation of mechanical waves from the balanced system to a substrate resulting in lower anchor loss and a high Q-factor.

A resonator that includes a piezoelectric vibrating portion; a retainer provided in at least part of an area surrounding the piezoelectric vibrating portion; a first node generating portion disposed between the piezoelectric vibrating portion and the retainer; a first connecting arm that connects the first node generating portion to a region in the piezoelectric vibrating portion that faces the first node generating portion; and a first retaining arm that connects the first node generating portion to a region in the retainer that faces the first node generating portion. The first node generating portion is substantially symmetrical with respect to each of two lines passing through a center of the first node generating portion along a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, with the first direction being a direction that the first connecting arm connects the first node generating portion to the piezoelectric vibrating portion.

A resonator that includes a piezoelectric vibrator, a frame, and a first node generator between the piezoelectric vibrator and the frame. Moreover, a first connecting arm connects the first node generator to the piezoelectric vibrator that opposes the first, and a first holding arm connects the first node generator to a part of the frame that opposes the first node generator. The first node generator includes a width extending in a second direction, which is orthogonal to a first direction of the first connecting arm, that is a maximum width where the first node generator is closer to the first connecting arm than a center of the first node generator relative to the first direction. Moreover, the width of the first node generator gradually decreases from the maximum width as the first node generator extends towards the first holding arm.

A resonator is provided that includes a vibration member that includes a substrate, a metal layer formed along one of main surfaces of the substrate, and a piezoelectric thin film disposed between the substrate and the metal layer. The vibration member vibrates such that a main vibration is a contour vibration. Moreover, a frame surrounds at least a portion of the vibration member, and a support unit connects the vibration member to the frame. The vibration member includes depressed portions on or above the one of main surfaces where the piezoelectric thin film is removed.

A symmetrical MEMS resonator is disclosed with a high quality factor. The MEMS resonator includes a silicon layer with a top surface and bottom surface opposite the top surface. A pair of first metal layers is provided above the top surface of the silicon layer and a corresponding pair of second metal layers is symmetrically provided below the second surface of the silicon layer relative to the pair of first metal layers. Furthermore, a first piezoelectric layer is disposed between the pair of first metal layers and a second piezoelectric layer is disposed between the pair of second metal layers.

A micromechanical resonator having one or more anchoring stems which are hollow to increase resonator Q factor. By way of example a micromechanical disk resonator embodiment is shown utilizing a resonant micromechanical disk anchored by a stem between at least one electrode used for input and output. To increase resonator Q, a hollow stem is utilized in which an outer thickness of stem material surrounds a hollow area interior of the stem, or that is fabricated with a plurality of vias and/or fabricated substructures containing hollow spaces in the stem material. Measurements have confirmed that Q values can be increased using the hollow core stems by a factor of 2.9 times in certain implementations and operating modes.

The present description concerns a clock signal generation device (902) comprising: a microelectromechanical resonant element (504); and at least one nanoelectromechanical transduction element (512).