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Quick Bench-top Evaluation (MEMS Accelrometers)

Flyers

DC evaluation of MEMS accelerometers

  • MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) accelerometers possess both electronic and mechanical specifications that need characterization, and this can require measurement under both static and dynamic conditions.
  • Static evaluation requires measurements to be made under constant acceleration (such as gravity), while dynamic evaluation usually requires some mechanical apparatus to apply dynamic acceleration to the MEMS device.
  • In addition to static and dynamic evaluation, simple electrical functional tests may also be needed in order to fully characterize device behavior.
  • This one-pager outlines two DC measurement examples using an off-the-shelf MEMS accelerometer.

Measurement examples

  • Example 1: Supply current vs. supply voltage One essential DUT specification is supply current under static acceleration measurement conditions (i.e. the force of gravity). In this example an I-V measurement of ISUPPLY vs. VSUPPLY was made using only SMU1.
  • Example 2: XOUT voltage by manual 360° rotation of DUT A simple MEMS device functional test can be made using the B2900A series’ time sampling capability. In this example the DUT was manually rotated under the static force of gravity and the XOUT voltage was monitored over time (V-t measurement). SMU2 was set to current force & voltage measurement (IFVM) mode with a negligible force current (~10 nA), while SMU1 supplied a constant 3 V source voltage.

A Source/Measure Unit (SMU) is a convenient way to measure supply current characteristics by sweeping the supply voltage across its specifications. In this example the supply current increases as the supply voltage varies from 1.8 V to 3.6 V. If needed, each measured result can be displayed in a sub-window popped up in the graphical display. 

Using the B2900A series’ time sampling capability and superior graphical user interface, time domain DC measurements (such as V-t or I-t) can be made with the same precision as regular I-V measurements. In this example the DUT was slowly and manually rotated by 360° under the force of gravity so that XOUT varied from 1.23 V to 1.84 V in response to the direction of gravity to the 3-axis sensor. The B2912A’s aperture time was set to 10 PLC (200 ms) to take in to account the DUT’s fixed filter response and its speed of manual rotation. While this measurement could also be done using an oscilloscope, the B 2900A offers convenience, low-cost and a small footprint. In addition, unlike a scope the B2900A can also perform precision I-V measurements and precision time domain DC measurements.

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