30/3/2022

Lecture 5

http://www.microsystems.metu.edu.tr/gyroscope/gyroscope.html

Capacitive accelerometers Tristan Gilet

Jean-Michel Redouté
Applications

http://www.findmems.com/bosch/mems-bosch-automotive-applications-and-beyond

2
Applications

• Crash/shock detection
e.g. for air-bag deployment in cars
• Vibration analysis
e.g. industrial machinery
• Feedback signals
e.g. to stabilize the image in a video recorder
or to control the flight of a plane
• Mobile devices (incl. smartphones)
• Disk drive protection (e.g. in laptops)
• Gaming systems
• Sports and health devices
• Earthquake analysis
• Building and structural monitoring
• Inertial navigation systems

And many more !

http://www.greencarsite.co.uk/econews/electric-car-crash-test-ncap-results.htm
http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/27324/Vibration-analysis-bearing-wear
http://sportsbioengineering.com/sportsaccelerometergyroscope.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerometer 3
 To read: Senturia 19.2
How do we measure acceleration ?

Spring-mass Transduction

Acceleration a(t) Displacement x(t) Electrical quantity

b k x Electrical
circuit
m

m.a(t)
Voltage V(t)

As we will see later, commercial

MEMS accelerometers operate
below the resonance frequency.
4
Accelerometer transduction
• Which sensing principles are used for micromechanical accelerometers ?
– Piezoresistive sensors, integrated onto the spring. The piezoresistor changes
when subjected to the acceleration induced stress.
 Robust and simple to implement;
 poor noise and power performance, high temperature dependency.

– Capacitive sensing: detecting a small change in capacitance due to the

relative movement of the proof mass and the frame. This strategy is widely
used accelerometers, as capacitors are inexpensive, have a good noise
performance require low power consumption for the read-out circuit. We will
focus on these in this lecture.

– Piezoelectric sensing: based on charge polarization of piezoelectric material

due to the strain caused by the inertial force. The proof mass is attached to a
piezoelectric plate that acts as a spring: the plate generates a current
proportional to the change in acceleration.  the sensor only measures
changes in acceleration and does not detect changes in DC acceleration.

5
 Piezoelectric transduction

Strain   finite displacement of charges

in a piezoelectric material

Stress & no strain  electric field  voltage

djI = piezoelectric coefficients

~ 10-12 m/V for quartz
~ 10-9 m/V for some ceramics

http://dev.nsta.org/evwebs/2014102/news/default.html http://www.nanotech.dtu.dk/Research/Research%20groups/
MEMS-AppliedSensors/NewResearch 6
 To read: Senturia 19.3
Capacitive transduction
Idem. electrostatic actuator (cf. projection displays)
Capacitance varies with
• distance d between electrodes,
• effective area A of the electrodes,
• Permittivity ε of the dielectric between electrodes

Different motions of the electrodes relative to

each other (under inertial forces) will modify C

Senturia, p.501

Sensitivity increased
with many electrodes
(comb drive)

Adams & Layton, Introductory MEMS p.238 (2010)

7
Capacitive accelerometer

e.g. ADXL series, by Analog Devices

www.analog.com/en/mems-sensors/
mems-accelerometers/products/index.html

Adams & Layton, Introductory MEMS p.238 (2010)

http://matthieu.lagouge.free.fr/mems/hist_app.html ADXL250
https://nepp.nasa.gov/eeelinks/February2002/Thermal_and_Mechanical_Reliability.htm 8
ADXL150

Senturia, p.514
9
From acceleration to displacement

Expression for a harmonic oscillator:

x(t)
Damping b due to the interstitial fluid b

Natural frequency:
m

Quality factor:
m.a(t)

Dimensionless variables:

Dimensionless equation:

10
From acceleration to displacement

Linear  Fourier analysis:

Complex transfer function:

Gain: Phase lag:

11
Analysis of the dimensionless harmonic resonator

• Amplitude at DC is 1 and the phase is zero. Above resonance the amplitude

response falls as 1/ ω2.
• Resonance occurs at ω = 1: |X/A| = Q.
• There is peaking when Q > 1.
• Maximum amplitude response occurs at:

• This means that for Q > 1/sqrt(2) there is a maximum at ω > 0 and for Q ≤ 1/sqrt(2)
no maximum is found and the amplitude decreases with frequency.

12
Frequency response and Bode plots

Gain Resonance peak: ω=1, X/A=Q Phase lag

Q=5 Q=5
Q=1/2
Q=1/2
Q=1/20

Q=1/20

Q<1/2  over-damped
Q=1/2  critically damped
Q>1/2  under-damped

In general,

Resonance peak observed in ω≈1 when Q>1/2.

Bandwidth = 1/Q (= band in which )
13
Sensitivity vs. frequency range

According to the Bode plots, x(t) will closely follow a(t) IF

1. the frequencies present in a(t) are below the natural frequency, AND

2. the quality factor Q is not too low (i.e. not too much damping)

« quasi-static » accelerometers

In dimensional terms,

Good sensitivity  take ω0 small (e.g. with capacitive transduction)

Good response at high freq.  take ω0 large (e.g. with piezoelectric transduction)

14
Low-frequency versus high-frequency response
• The low-frequency response describes the accelerometer operation below its
mechanical resonant frequency. Most MEMS sensors operate in this region
(typical ω0 are in the 10 Hz to 10 kHz range).
Example (V. Kaajakar, Practical MEMS, 2009)

• Note in the previous example that if we redesigned he system to have a

displacement which is 4 times as large (x = 2 µm) for the same acceleration (2G),
the resonance frequency would be equal to f0 = 500 Hz.

15
Low-frequency versus high-frequency response
• The high frequency responses in MEMS are used in special applications where a
very high sensitivity is required (i.e. seismographs, where the resonant frequency
might be 1Hz or lower). For this we select a very low resonant frequency.

• Example: assume k = 1 N/m and f0 = 0.2 Hz. The resulting proof mass, in this case,
would be:

This is very large ! Equivalent silicon cube has sides equal to 6.5 cm.

In order to reduce the proof mass, we can increase the spring constant (bound by
technological considerations), or increase the resonant frequency (reducing the
sensitivity). E.g. increasing f0 to 100 Hz, would reduce the proof mass to 2.5
milligram. Equivalent silicon cube has sides equal to 1 mm.

These are the trade-off !

16
Revision: inverting amplifier
• Observe that there is negative feedback, i.e. the output (vo) counteracts the input
(v-) so as to force vid to zero.
• Because there is negative feedback, the voltage at v- tracks the voltage at v+.
Since v+ = 0 V, v- is forced to 0 V.

• Voltage gain is found by using KCL on node v-:

Since v- = v+ = 0 V:

Negative voltage gain implies 180o phase shift between input and output signals
(hence the name: inverting amplifier). 17
Warm-up: integrator

Replace R2 with a capacitor. What does this circuit do ?

 Integrator !
In a practical circuit, C would be shunted with a large resistor to avoid saturating the
opamp at very low frequencies.

18
Wheatstone bridge
• The measurement frequency is assumed to be significantly higher than the
frequency of the capacitance variations. In that case: IC = C. dVC/dt

• One possible circuit is to use a capacitive Wheatstone bridge. Recall that there are
significant benefits to measuring the capacitance change ratiometrically: by
looking at the difference in the capacitance changes the effect of environmental
variations can be minimized.

19
Wheatstone bridge
• Disregard CP for the time being.

• Consider two parallel plate capacitors moving in opposite directions (Cw1 and Cw2).
Parallel plate capacitances are calculated as follows:

ε is permittivity, A is the capacitor plate area, d is the initial gap between the
plates, x is the capacitor plate displacement.

• Using the voltage divider expression:

• The differential output voltage is proportional to the displacement x:

20
Wheatstone bridge
• The main issue with this type of circuit are the parasitic capacitances which are
formed between any two conductors and a dielectric (such as air). We will
represent these capacitances by CP, and calculate their effect on the sensed
output voltage.

• To ease the calculation, assume that:

• Using the voltage divider expression:

• The parasitic capacitors strongly reduce the bridge sensitivity !

21
Wheatstone bridge
• Effect of parasitic capacitors – example.

Assuming C0 = 100 fF, CP = 1 pF, ΔC = 1 fF, CP = 1 pF, V = 1V:

Vout = 0.83 mV (with parasitics).

Vout = 5 mV (without parasitics).

In this case, the parasitics reduce the bridge sensitivity by 6 !

22
Opamp circuits measuring a capacitance
• This circuit offers an improvement. The opamp is now connected as a
transimpedance amplifier (the input is a current - ic - and the output is a voltage -
Vo).

• CP is the parasitic capacitance between the interconnect between the capacitive

sensor and the amplifier. Because of negative feedback, the voltage at the
inverting input is forced to 0 V (i.e. virtual short: the opamp forces v- = v+).

Senturia, Microsystem
Design, 2001.

• The output voltage is:

23
Opamp circuits measuring a capacitance
• The capacitance C(x) depends on the displacement x. Hence:

• The current in the capacitor is the time-derivative of the charge:

• If VS is a DC source, Vo is proportional to dx/dt. However,

– In an accelerometer, it would be more useful to obtain an output voltage

which is proportional to the displacement x.
– Adding a voltage gain for signal conditioning is preferable.

24
Opamp circuits measuring a capacitance
• If VS is a sine wave, we need to take into account both terms of the previous
expression in case x is time varying.

• We can cancel out the second term by increasing the frequency of Vs, which
renders the term dx/dt negligible. In this case:

25
Opamp circuits measuring a capacitance
• When using a high-frequency AC source, so that the velocity-dependent
component of the current can be ignored, we use the following circuit.

• Resistor R prevents the opamp of saturating at low frequencies because of the

opamp offset voltage.

26
Opamp circuits measuring a capacitance
• The next step is to demodulate the low frequency signal information from Vo.
Recall that VS is sinusoidal, and so Vo = - [C(x)/CF].VS is sinusoidal as well.

• For this we can use a diode rectifier.

Senturia, Microsystem
Design, 2001.

27
Interference
• Electromagnetic interference from nearby radio, television, cell phones, ...
• EMC = electromagnetic compatibility.
• Google “EMC banana skins” for more.
• We combat interference by using careful layout as well as circuit techniques, such
as using differential signals.

• Source: NASA Reference Publication 1374, July 1995: During the Falklands War, the
British Ship H.M.S. Sheffield sank with heavy casualties after being hit by an Exocet
missile ... the system created electromagnetic interference to radio
communications to and among the contingent of Harrier jets ... While the Harriers
took off and, landed, the missile defense was disengaged to allow communications
with the jets ...

28
Noise
• Noise is a random fluctuation of electrons, atoms or molecules. Because of noise,
it is not possible to predict the instantaneous value for the measured signal. Noise
needs to be studied statistically.

• We define the noise spectral density Sn(f) as the average normalized noise power
over a 1Hz bandwidth.

• The noise spectral density is related to the total mean-squared noise for the
broadband noise source, since:

where is the mean-square noise voltage.

• We will discuss two noise sources: thermal noise and flicker noise.

29
Thermal noise
• Thermal noise (a.k.a. Johnson noise) is due to the thermal excitation of charge
carriers in a conductor. It occurs in any resistor, and is proportional to the
temperature.

• The spectral density of the noise voltage is:

• Observe that the spectral density function of the thermal noise voltage is constant
over all frequencies: we call this white noise.
• When thermal noise is passed through an ideal band-pass filter, spanning a Δf
bandwidth, the mean-square noise at the filter output becomes:

• We will consider one fundamental property of white noise.

30
Thermal noise
• Consider a noisy resistor in parallel with a capacitor.

• We can calculate the transfer function:

• The noise bandwidth is:

• The mean square voltage across the capacitor is:

The average value stored across the capacitor does not depend on the size of the
resistor.
31
Flicker noise
• Flicker noise is found in all active devices, but it occurs only when a DC current is
flowing. Flicker noise is caused by traps in the semiconductor, where carriers that
would normally constitute DC current flow are held for some time period and then
released.
• Flicker noise is also commonly referred to as 1/f noise (or pink noise) since it is well
modelled as having a 1/f spectral density Flicker noise is a significant noise source
in MOS transistors.
• Thermal noise and flicker noise are the two main noise sources.

T. C. Carusone, D.
Johns, K. Martin, Analog
Integrated Circuit
Design, John Wiley &
Sons, 2011.

32
 To read: Senturia 16
Conclusion – there’s more to “noise” than “noise”

Comes from:
1) Interfering signals (e.g. 50Hz power-lines, broadcast radio, etc.)  well-defined frequency
 use shields, grounds, filtering, etc.

2) Random fluctuations  large frequency spectrum

Flicker noise (in diodes and FETs)  spectrum in 1/f

Thermal noise (Brownian motion)  energy kB = Boltzmann constant = 1.38x10-23 J/K

T = temperature (K)

e.g. Resistor of resistance R in thermal equilibrium

 Random voltage Vn of variance

where the spectral density of voltage is

If placed in series with a capacitor of capacitance C, net voltage across

33
 Mechanical noise in an accelerometer
• Lumped modelling of an accelerometer:

b k x

F = m.a

• The resistance (damper) will introduce thermal noise:

• The thermal noise will induce mechanical vibrations which will set the lower limit
for the acceleration that we will measure.

34
Mechanical noise in an accelerometer
• The thermal noise energy stored in the capacitor and in the inductor are going to
be identical.
• The energy stored in the capacitor is equal to (equipartition theorem):

• The energy stored in the spring should be identical to the energy stored in the
capacitor as per the lumped model:

• We can conclude:

35
Mechanical noise in an accelerometer
• In quasi-static accelerometers:

m.a = k.x b k x

• Calculating the mechanical noise:

m

F = m.a

36
Mechanical noise in an accelerometer
• How can we reduce the mechanical noise in an accelerometer ?
– Increase the mass m (not practical in MEMS).
– Decrease ω0, which essentially means increasing m and/or decreasing k. This
is comparable to limiting Δf when reducing the thermal noise of a resistor.
– Cool the sensor (or move to Antartica).

Numerical example: MEMS accelerometer, mass = 1.10-6 kg, and f0 = 2 kHz. Say T =
300K.

From this, we calculate k = 158 N/m.

xn,rms = 5.12 . 10-12 m.
Mechanical noise on the acceleration: d2xn,rms / dt2 = 0.00081 m/s2

Compare this value to the noise rms value given in the datasheet of the ADXL335.
Noise density = 150 µg/√Hz. The datasheet mentions that:

Assuming a bandwidth = 1 kHz, the rms noise = 6mG = 0.059 m/s2

37
References
• Senturia, Microsystem Design, 2001.
• V. Kaajakar, Practical MEMS, 2009.

38