Characterization of MEMS resonators via feedthrough de-embedding of harmonic and subharmonic pulsed-mode response

Alexis Brenes (1, 2, 3) , Jérôme Juillard (1) , Filipe Vinci dos Santos (2) , Alain Bonnoit (1)

1 GeePs - Laboratoire Génie électrique et électronique de Paris
2 Chaire Conception Analogique Avancée Thales/Supélec
3 Thales Avionics SAS, Valence, France

In this paper, we model and give experimental evidence of the efficiency of pulsed-mode actuation for the characterization of capacitive MEMS resonators. In particular, we show how to process the pulsed-mode response in two modes (harmonic and subharmonic) so as to eliminate parasitic feedthrough effects and characterize the resonator more accurately. We test our approach on a pressure sensor, developed by THALES Avionics, used for avionics applications. In contrast to the existing state-of-the-art techniques, the methods described in this paper can be used to characterize electrostatic MEMS without the use of a spectrum analyzer or high-performance ADC.

Keywords: Capacitive feedthrough; Pulsed-mode response; MEMS characterization; Time domain signal processing; Open-loop actuation

Domains: Engineering Sciences [physics]; Micro and nanotechnologies/Microelectronics; Engineering Sciences [physics]; Signal and Image processing

Alexis Brenes, Jérôme Juillard, Filipe Vinci dos Santos, Alain Bonnoit. Characterization of MEMS resonators via feedthrough de-embedding of harmonic and subharmonic pulsed-mode response. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical , 2015, 229, pp.211-217. ⟨10.1016/j.sna.2015.02.032⟩. ⟨hal-01235587⟩