Smart drivers for online diagnosis of electrostatic MEMS actuators

Author

Dumas, N. ; Latorre, L. ; Mailly, F. ; Nouet, P.

fYear

2010

fDate

7-9 June 2010

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

6

Abstract

This paper introduces the design of High-Voltage CMOS drivers for Electrostatic MEMS switches. In order to perform online diagnosis, the proposed architecture implements a dedicated circuitry that can detect the pull-in event. This way, stuck or broken switches are identified during operation. The pull-in event corresponds to a rapid change in the actuation capacitance thus producing a current peak during actuation. The idea is therefore to measure the charging current, using a differential method that cancels the effects of any parallel parasitic capacitance.

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; driver circuits; electrostatic actuators; microactuators; microswitches; actuation capacitance; differential method; electrostatic MEMS actuator online diagnosis; electrostatic MEMS switches; high-voltage CMOS drivers; parallel parasitic capacitance; smart drivers; Capacitance measurement; Current measurement; Driver circuits; Electrostatic actuators; Event detection; Intelligent actuators; Micromechanical devices; Microswitches; Parasitic capacitance; Switches; CMOS; Diagnosis; Electrostatic Actuator; MEMS; Switch;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Mixed-Signals, Sensors and Systems Test Workshop (IMS3TW), 2010 IEEE 16th International

Conference_Location

La Grande Motte

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-7792-0

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-7791-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IMS3TW.2010.5503018

Filename

5503018