Charge-Controlled Readout and BIST Circuit for MEMS Sensors

Author

Basith, Iftekhar Ibne ; Kandalaft, Nabeeh ; Rashidzadeh, R. ; Ahmadi, Mahdi

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada

Volume

32

Issue

3

fYear

2013

fDate

Mar-13

Firstpage

433

Lastpage

441

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new readout circuit with an integrated built-in self-test (BIST) structure for capacitive microelectromechanical system (MEMS). In the proposed solution, instead of commonly used voltage control signals to test the device, charge-controlled stimuli are employed to cover a wider range of structural defects. The proposed test solution eliminates the risk of structural collapse in the test phase for gap-varying parallel-plate MEMS devices. Measurement results using a prototype fabricated in TSMC 65-nm CMOS technology indicate that the proposed BIST scheme can successfully detect minor structural defects altering MEMS nominal capacitance.

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; built-in self test; capacitive sensors; microsensors; readout electronics; BIST circuit; CMOS technology; MEMS nominal capacitance; MEMS sensors; built-in self-test; capacitive microelectromechanical system; charge controlled readout; parallel plate MEMS devices; readout circuit; size 65 nm; structural collapse; structural defects; Built-in self-test; Calibration; Capacitance; Capacitors; Delay; Delay lines; Micromechanical devices; Built-in self-test (BIST); microelectromechanical system (MEMS); ring oscillator; time-to-digital converter (TDC);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0278-0070

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TCAD.2012.2218602

Filename

6461973