Closed-loop operated time-based accelerometer

A high-resolution, high dynamic range capacitive accelerometer based on pull-in time measurement is described in this paper. The high sensitivity of pull-in time can be used to implement high performance accelerometers, but non-linearity and low dynamic range compromise device performance. A closed-...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dias, Rosana A. (author)
Other Authors: Macedo, Pedro (author), Silva, Hélder D. (author), Wolffenbuttel, R. F. (author), Cretu, E. (author), Rocha, Luís A. (author)
Format: conferencePaper
Language:eng
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Closed-loop MEMS accelerometer
Pull-in accelerometer
Science & Technology
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1822/21376
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt:1822/21376
Description
Summary:A high-resolution, high dynamic range capacitive accelerometer based on pull-in time measurement is described in this paper. The high sensitivity of pull-in time can be used to implement high performance accelerometers, but non-linearity and low dynamic range compromise device performance. A closed-loop approach using an electrostatic actuation mechanism to control the duration of the pull-in time is presented, which addresses the low dynamic range problem. Capacitive parallel-plates structures were used and the preliminary experimental results of closed-loop operation under several acceleration values confirm the potential of this technique and the overall accelerometer concept. The results show an accelerometer with high sensitivity (better than 6 μV/μg) and improved linearity over a large dynamic range.

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