Analysis of mutually injection-locked oscillators for differential resonant sensing

© 2004-2012 IEEE. The potential benefits of oscillator synchronization are receiving increased interest in the resonant MEMS community, for clocking or sensing applications. In this paper, we explore the possibilities of differential resonant sensing applications based on the phase-difference between two injection-locked resonators, strongly coupled through an electronic mixer. A general model of such oscillators is established, and their static and dynamic performance is determined. The design space offered by the mixing scheme is then investigated at the system-level, in the weak and strong coupling cases. The practical implementation of the corresponding architectures in the context of a MEMS application is discussed. The theoretical results are supported by simulations and experimental data.