Patent ID: 7652547

Claim:
A method for making a microelectromechanical (MEM) resonator having a resonant frequency f 0 which is substantially insensitive to variations in manufacturing, comprising the steps of: (a) specifying a set of design parameters for the MEM resonator which includes a mass suspended above a substrate by at least one anchor; (b) providing a parametric computational model of the MEM resonator, and performing an uncertainty analysis with the parametric computational model over a range of expected manufacturing variations in at least one uncertainty parameter, and thereby determining an uncertainty Δf in the resonant frequency f 0 of the MEM resonator due to the at least one uncertainty parameter; (c) specifying a pattern of holes in the mass to compensate, at least in part, for the uncertainty Δf in the resonant frequency f 0 of the MEM resonator, and repeating the uncertainty analysis with the parametric computational model to determine a change in the uncertainty Δf in the resonant frequency f 0 of the MEM resonator due to the pattern of holes; (d) changing the pattern of holes by changing a location, a size or a number of the holes, and performing the uncertainty analysis with the parametric computational model to determine the change in the uncertainty Δf in the resonant frequency f 0 of the MEM resonator; and (e) repeating step (d) until the uncertainty Δf in the resonant frequency f 0 of the MEM resonator is minimized.