Phase noise analysis of micromechanical silicon resonant accelerometer

Abstract The phase noise in micromechanical silicon resonant accelerometer (SRA) can perturb its frequency output and determines the minimum detectable change in acceleration (sensor resolution). In order to improve the resolution and optimize the sensor performance, the phase noise of SRA is studied in this paper. Theoretical model of phase noise of SRA is set up, especially the effect of the automatic gain control (AGC) circuit in oscillator to phase noise in low frequency range (1/f3 phase noise and 1/f5 phase noise) is analyzed, and the restriction of resolution performance arising from the 1/f3 phase noise caused by AGC is also illustrated. Phase noise experiments are then performed on a SRA prototype developed in MEMS Inertial Technology Research Center and validate the model. Compared to the previous work, the phase noise model in this paper matches the experiments results more precisely, and could provide guidance and reference for design in MEMS inertial device.

[1]  Lin He,et al.  A State-Space Phase-Noise Model for Nonlinear MEMS Oscillators Employing Automatic Amplitude Control , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers.

[2]  W. P. Robins,et al.  Phase Noise in Signal Sources , 1984 .

[3]  Christopher C. T. Nguyen,et al.  Influence of automatic level control on micromechanical resonator oscillator phase noise , 2003, IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium and PDA Exhibition Jointly with the 17th European Frequency and Time Forum, 2003. Proceedings of the 2003.

[4]  Robert G. Meyer,et al.  A low-noise, low-power VCO with automatic amplitude control for wireless applications , 1999, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[5]  裘安萍 Qiu An-ping,et al.  Application of microlever to micromechanical silicon resonant accelerometers , 2011 .

[6]  T.H. Lee,et al.  Oscillator phase noise: a tutorial , 1999, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[7]  Jin-hu Dong,et al.  Temperature influence mechanism of micromechanical silicon oscillating accelerometer , 2011, 2011 IEEE Power Engineering and Automation Conference.

[8]  Su Yan.  Implementation and experiments of micromechanical differential silicon resonant accelerometer , 2010 .

[9]  Ran Shi,et al.  Micro Leverage Modeling, Simulation and Optimization for Micromechanical Silicon Oscillating Accelerometer , 2011 .

[10]  Salvatore Levantino,et al.  A 2-V 2.5-GHz-104-dBc/Hz at 100 kHz fully integrated VCO with wide-band low-noise automatic amplitude control loop , 2001, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[11]  D. Leeson.  A simple model of feedback oscillator noise spectrum , 1966 .