MMA2301D Datasheet, PDF (4/7 Pages) Motorola, Inc – Surface Mount Micromachined Accelerometer

Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
The Motorola accelerometer is a surface-micromachined
integrated-circuit accelerometer.
The device consists of a surface micromachined capacitive
sensing cell (g-cell) and a CMOS signal conditioning ASIC
contained in a single integrated circuit package. The sensing
element is sealed hermetically at the wafer level using a bulk
micromachined cap wafer.
The g-cell is a mechanical structure formed from
semiconductor materials (polysilicon) using semiconductor
processes (masking and etching). It can be modeled as a set of
beams attached to a movable central mass that move between
fixed beams. The movable beams can be deflected from their
rest position by subjecting the system to an acceleration
(Figure 2).
As the beams attached to the central mass move, the
distance from them to the fixed beams on one side will increase
by the same amount that the distance to the fixed beams on the
other side decreases. The change in distance is a measure of
acceleration.
The g-cell plates form two back-to-back capacitors
(Figure 2). As the central mass moves with acceleration, the
distance between the beams change and each capacitor's
value will change, (C = NAε/D). Where A is the area of the
facing side of the beam, ε is the dielectric constant, D is the
distance between the beams, and N is the number of beams.
The CMOS ASIC uses switched capacitor techniques to
measure the g-cell capacitors and extract the acceleration data
from the difference between the two capacitors. The ASIC also
signal conditions and filters (switched capacitor) the signal,
providing a high level output voltage that is ratiometric and
proportional to acceleration.
Acceleration
Self-Test
The sensor provides a self-test feature that allows the
verification of the mechanical and electrical integrity of the
accelerometer at any time before or after installation. This
feature is critical in applications such as automotive airbag
systems where system integrity must be ensured over the life of
the vehicle. A fourth plate is used in the g-cell as a self-test
plate. When the user applies a logic high input to the self-test
pin, a calibrated potential is applied across the self-test plate
and the moveable plate. The resulting electrostatic force
(Fe = ¹/₂ AV²/d²) causes the center plate to deflect. The
resultant deflection is measured by the accelerometer's control
ASIC and a proportional output voltage results. This procedure
assures that both the mechanical (g-cell) and electronic
sections of the accelerometer are functioning.
Ratiometricity
Ratiometricity simply means that the output offset voltage
and sensitivity will scale linearly with applied supply voltage.
That is, as you increase supply voltage the sensitivity and offset
increase linearly; as supply voltage decreases, offset and
sensitivity decrease linearly. This is a key feature when
interfacing to a microcontroller or an A/D converter because it
provides system level cancellation of supply induced errors in
the analog to digital conversion process.
Status
Motorola accelerometers include fault detection circuitry and
a fault latch. The Status pin is an output from the fault latch,
OR'd with self-test, and is set high whenever one (or more) of
the following events occur:
• Supply voltage falls below the Low Voltage Detect (LVD)
voltage threshold
• Clock oscillator falls below the clock monitor minimum
frequency
• Parity of the EPROM bits becomes odd in number.
The fault latch can be reset by a rising edge on the self-test
input pin, unless one (or more) of the fault conditions continues
to exist.
Figure 2. Simplified Transducer Physical Model versus
Transducer Physical Model
SPECIAL FEATURES
Filtering
The Motorola accelerometers contain an onboard 4-pole
switched capacitor filter. A Bessel implementation is used
because it provides a maximally flat delay response (linear
phase) thus preserving pulse shape integrity. Because the filter
is realized using switched capacitor techniques, there is no
requirement for external passive components (resistors and
capacitors) to set the cut-off frequency.
MMA2301D
4
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Motorola Sensor Device Data