A Low-Power Wireless Bondwire Inertial Sensor System

Abstract

This paper presents the design and implementation of a fully-integrated CMOS accelerometer using bondwires as sensing devices without Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) processes. The model and analysis of bondwire inertial sensors are provided for further implementation of low-power and low-noise accelerometers. Finite element method (FEM) simulation is performed to verify the concept and model. This paper also proposes a closed-loop readout interface that suppresses the in-band noise and reduces both design complexity and power consumption. The bondwire accelerometer is fabricated in a 0.18 mu m CMOS process, achieves a 33 mV/g linear transducer gain within a 5 kHz bandwidth, and consumes 9 mW.