Design of a low power capacitive sensor for a micromachined accelerometer

Thesis (M.Eng. and S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2002. === Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-73). === This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Ar...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Good, Daniel (Daniel Albert), 1979-
Other Authors: Rahul Sarpeshkar.
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/16840
Description
Summary:Thesis (M.Eng. and S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2002. === Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-73). === This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. === Anew possible commercial application for a micromachined accelerometer is for use in handheld devices such as personal digital assistants and cellular phones, as an intuitive method of data entry which does not consume space on the ever-shrinking exterior. These devices are battery powered, which imposes stringent power consumption limitations on any hardware added. To make an accelerometer a viable addition to a handheld device, a low power version was designed, with the other device parameters, such as measurement range and noise performance, tailored to be suitable for use in a handheld. The final design measures ±3 g's of acceleration with approximately 140 [mu]g/ [square root of]Hz of noise, consuming only 200 [mu]W of power. === by Daniel Good. === M.Eng.and S.B.