Optimized low-power thermal stepper system for harsh and inaccessible environments

This article presents an optimized thermal stepper system which is used to align the critical parts of high-performance smart sensors, such as capacitive sensors. In order to apply the system in harsh and inaccessible industrial environments, improvements have been made, such as reduced power consumption (1mW during measurement mode), increased alignment accuracy (within 0.1um), increased interconnect reliability, and better immunity to external interferences. Experimental results are shown which demonstrate the improved performance of the thermal stepper system.