Noise suppression of MEMS readout near pull-in

Panu Helistö; Hannu Sipola; Heikki Seppä

doi:10.1016/j.sna.2012.05.015

Noise suppression of MEMS readout near pull-in

Panu Helistö^*
, Hannu Sipola
, Heikki Seppä

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We show that electromechanical feedback in MEMS sensors can be used to eliminate the noise of the readout electronics near the pull-in point, at which the force-to-displacement gain of the system becomes infinite. Displacement bias through electrical feedback instead of voltage bias allows stable operation up to and above the pull-in point. Experimentally, the electronics contribution to system resolution was suppressed by an order of magnitude, reaching the intrinsic resolution of the MEMS microphone. The technique allows the use of standard integrated electronics with noise-critical MEMS sensors, such as microphones, pressure sensors and accelerometers.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	101-104
Journal	Sensors and Actuators A: Physical
Volume	183
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sna.2012.05.015
Publication status	Published - 2012
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

Financial support from TEKES and the Academy of Finland (Centre of Excellence on Low Temperature Quantum Systems and Devices) is acknowledged.

Keywords

Capacitive sensors
MEMS
noise
pull-in
readout

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10.1016/j.sna.2012.05.015

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title = "Noise suppression of MEMS readout near pull-in",

abstract = "We show that electromechanical feedback in MEMS sensors can be used to eliminate the noise of the readout electronics near the pull-in point, at which the force-to-displacement gain of the system becomes infinite. Displacement bias through electrical feedback instead of voltage bias allows stable operation up to and above the pull-in point. Experimentally, the electronics contribution to system resolution was suppressed by an order of magnitude, reaching the intrinsic resolution of the MEMS microphone. The technique allows the use of standard integrated electronics with noise-critical MEMS sensors, such as microphones, pressure sensors and accelerometers.",

keywords = "Capacitive sensors, MEMS, noise, pull-in, readout",

author = "Panu Helist{\"o} and Hannu Sipola and Heikki Sepp{\"a}",

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T1 - Noise suppression of MEMS readout near pull-in

AU - Helistö, Panu

AU - Sipola, Hannu

AU - Seppä, Heikki

PY - 2012

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N2 - We show that electromechanical feedback in MEMS sensors can be used to eliminate the noise of the readout electronics near the pull-in point, at which the force-to-displacement gain of the system becomes infinite. Displacement bias through electrical feedback instead of voltage bias allows stable operation up to and above the pull-in point. Experimentally, the electronics contribution to system resolution was suppressed by an order of magnitude, reaching the intrinsic resolution of the MEMS microphone. The technique allows the use of standard integrated electronics with noise-critical MEMS sensors, such as microphones, pressure sensors and accelerometers.

AB - We show that electromechanical feedback in MEMS sensors can be used to eliminate the noise of the readout electronics near the pull-in point, at which the force-to-displacement gain of the system becomes infinite. Displacement bias through electrical feedback instead of voltage bias allows stable operation up to and above the pull-in point. Experimentally, the electronics contribution to system resolution was suppressed by an order of magnitude, reaching the intrinsic resolution of the MEMS microphone. The technique allows the use of standard integrated electronics with noise-critical MEMS sensors, such as microphones, pressure sensors and accelerometers.

KW - Capacitive sensors

KW - MEMS

KW - noise

KW - pull-in

KW - readout

U2 - 10.1016/j.sna.2012.05.015

DO - 10.1016/j.sna.2012.05.015

M3 - Article

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VL - 183

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EP - 104

JO - Sensors and Actuators A: Physical

JF - Sensors and Actuators A: Physical

ER -

Noise suppression of MEMS readout near pull-in

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

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