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Hybrid ADCs, Smart Sensors for the IoT, and Sub-1V & Advanced Node Analog Circuit Design pp 201–218Cite as

A High-Resolution Self-Oscillating Integrating Dual-Slope CDC for MEMS Sensors

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Abstract

An integrating dual-slope (DS) capacitance-to-digital converter (CDC), specifically designed for interfacing capacitive MEMS sensors, is presented. In particular, this work proposes a CDC that interfaces a MEMS sensor built with a bridge of capacitors. In this bridge, some capacitances are pressure sensitive, causing pressure-related changes in the bridge output. The voltage to digital conversion is then realized in two steps. First, a voltage amplifier boosts the output of the bridge. Second, an integrating DS ADC digitizes the output of the amplifier. The proposed ADC uses time instead of amplitude resolution to generate a multi-bit digital output stream. In addition, it performs noise shaping of the quantization error to reduce measurement time. These characteristics lead to the following properties: intrinsically low sensitivity to temperature and process variations, simplicity of trimming offset and gain to correct for sensor parameter spread, and an energy-efficient implementation. The effectiveness of the proposed architecture is demonstrated by measurements performed on a prototype, designed, and fabricated using standard 0.13 μm CMOS technology. Experimental results show that the proposed CDC achieves a maximum resolution of 17 bits, which corresponds to a capacitive resolution of 5.4aF, while consuming only 146 μA from a 1.5 V power supply, with an effective area of 0.317mm2.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been funded by Marie Curie project SIMIC, Grant Agreement No. 610484, and funded by grants from the European Union (Research Executive Agency) and TEC2014-56879-R of CICYT, Spain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electronic Technology Department, Carlos III University, Madrid, Spain

    J. P. Sanjurjo, Enrique Prefasi & C. Rogi

  2. Infineon Technologies, RF & Sensors, Villach, Austria

    C. Buffa & R. Gaggl

Authors
  1. J. P. Sanjurjo
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  2. Enrique Prefasi
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  3. C. Buffa
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  4. C. Rogi
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  5. R. Gaggl
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Enrique Prefasi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands

    Pieter Harpe

  2. Department of Microelectronics, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands

    Kofi A. A. Makinwa

  3. Department of Physics G. Occhialini, University of Milan, Milano, Italy

    Andrea Baschirotto

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Sanjurjo, J.P., Prefasi, E., Buffa, C., Rogi, C., Gaggl, R. (2018). A High-Resolution Self-Oscillating Integrating Dual-Slope CDC for MEMS Sensors. In: Harpe, P., Makinwa, K., Baschirotto, A. (eds) Hybrid ADCs, Smart Sensors for the IoT, and Sub-1V & Advanced Node Analog Circuit Design. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61285-0_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61285-0_11

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-61285-0

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