New generation of high performance/high reliability MEMS accelerometers for harsh environment

This work aims to push the limits of MEMS open loop accelerometers towards higher performance, higher reliability in increasingly harsh environment. The new generation accelerometer relies on proven bulk micromachined capacitive MEMS sensor and a new ASIC. The aim is to improve noise, linearity while being able to operate reliably under strong radiation and at high temperature. A new ASIC was developed and tested. It has a noise of 1.7 ppmFS/root Herz, nonlinearity smaller than 0.2 %, operates up to 175°C. Radiation tests have shown that the analog part of the ASIC operates well for total dose of 57 krad and under heavy ion bombardment.