MEMS Accelerometer Modelling and Noise Analysis

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) have an extensive use in different areas of technology. Inertial sensors (accelerometers and gyroscopes) are one of the most widely used devices fabricated using MEMS technology. MEMS accelerometers play an important role in different application areas such as automotive, inertial navigation, guidance, industry, space applications etc. because of low cost, small size, low power, and high reliability. This book presents a detailed SIMULINK model for a conventional capacitive sigma-delta accelerometer system consisting of a MEMS accelerometer, closed-loop readout electronics, and signal processing units (e.g. decimation filters). By using this model, it is possible to estimate the performance of the full accelerometer system including individual noise components, operation range, open loop sensitivity, scale factor, etc. The developed model has been verified through test results using a capacitive MEMS accelerometer, full-custom designed readout electronics, and signal processing unit implemented on a FPGA.