MEMS Technology Moves Into More Applications

Feb. 18, 2002

Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology is branching out into new applications. MEMS makers are actively integrating their large analog devices with front-end and back-end digital circuitry to offer higher levels of system integration and...

Roger Allan

Greater integration has yielded reductions in size that were previously impossible for precision linear and angular position sensing and control applications. Austria Micro Systems of Unterpremstätten, Austria, has developed the AS5020, a highly integrated ultraminiature 64-position 6-bit absolute-angle angular-position Hall-Effect sensor.

Integrated on a single CMOS ASIC are the micromachined sensor array, an ADC, two registers, a one-time-programmable ROM, and a three-wire bus, all in a 4.93- by 3.94- by 1.48-in. package. Seldom has so much sensor technology been squeezed into such little space.

Front-end MEMS-sensor integration offers performance levels never reached with legacy sensors. Applied MEMS of Stafford, Texas, has an angular servo acceler-ometer for very sensitive seismic measurements in oil and gas explorations (see the figure).

The Si-Flex SF1500-UNLD force-balance device has the lowest noise performance for a commercial MEMS accelerometer. It can detect less than 30 ng rms √Hz. This 24-bit, fifth-order Δ-Σ sensor has over 115 dB of dynamic range, 128-kHz oversampling, and less than 0.0001% of full-scale distortion.

Go to www.austriamicrosystems.com and www.appliedmems.com.

About the Author

Roger Allan

Roger Allan is an electronics journalism veteran, and served as Electronic Design's Executive Editor for 15 of those years. He has covered just about every technology beat from semiconductors, components, packaging and power devices, to communications, test and measurement, automotive electronics, robotics, medical electronics, military electronics, robotics, and industrial electronics. His specialties include MEMS and nanoelectronics technologies. He is a contributor to the McGraw Hill Annual Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. He is also a Life Senior Member of the IEEE and holds a BSEE from New York University's School of Engineering and Science. Roger has worked for major electronics magazines besides Electronic Design, including the IEEE Spectrum, Electronics, EDN, Electronic Products, and the British New Scientist. He also has working experience in the electronics industry as a design engineer in filters, power supplies and control systems.

After his retirement from Electronic Design Magazine, He has been extensively contributing articles for Penton’s Electronic Design, Power Electronics Technology, Energy Efficiency and Technology (EE&T) and Microwaves RF Magazine, covering all of the aforementioned electronics segments as well as energy efficiency, harvesting and related technologies. He has also contributed articles to other electronics technology magazines worldwide.

He is a “jack of all trades and a master in leading-edge technologies” like MEMS, nanolectronics, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, military electronics, biometrics, implantable medical devices, and energy harvesting and related technologies.