Low power pulse generator as a capacitive interface for MEMS applications

Author

Al Kadi Jazairli, Mohamad ; Flandre, Denis

Author_Institution

Microelectron. Lab., Univ. Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium

fYear

2009

fDate

12-17 July 2009

Firstpage

312

Lastpage

315

Abstract

This paper presents an ultra low power pulse generator based on special design of a voltage controlled ring oscillator (VCRO). This pulse generator can be used as a capacitive sensor interface for MEMS applications with the advantage of using short pulse width to achieve lower power consumption and high sensitivity for low capacitance. The pulse frequency can be controlled by voltage bias. The design is made using 2 mum MEMS compatible silicon-on-insulator CMOS technology. The power consumption is estimated to be in the range of 2 muW when the pulse frequency is set to 300 kHz.

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; capacitive sensors; integrated circuit design; low-power electronics; microsensors; pulse generators; silicon-on-insulator; voltage-controlled oscillators; MEMS compatible silicon-on-insulator CMOS technology; Si; VCRO design; capacitive sensor interface; frequency 300 kHz; pulse frequency; ultralow power pulse generator; voltage controlled ring oscillator; CMOS technology; Capacitive sensors; Energy consumption; Frequency estimation; Micromechanical devices; Pulse generation; Ring oscillators; Silicon on insulator technology; Voltage control; Voltage-controlled oscillators;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, 2009. PRIME 2009. Ph.D.

Conference_Location

Cork

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-3733-7

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-3734-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RME.2009.5201366

Filename

5201366