Parasitic effects of air-gap through-silicon vias in high-speed three-dimensional integrated circuits

In this paper,ground-signal-ground type through-silicon vias（TSVs） exploiting air gaps as insulation layers are designed,analyzed and simulated for applications in millimeter wave.The compact wideband equivalent-circuit model and passive elements（RLGC） parameters based on the physical parameters are presented with the frequency up to 100 GHz.The parasitic capacitance of TSVs can be approximated as the dielectric capacitance of air gaps when the thickness of air gaps is greater than 0.75 μm.Therefore,the applied voltage of TSVs only needs to achieve the flatband voltage,and there is no need to indicate the threshold voltage.This is due to the small permittivity of air gaps.The proposed model shows good agreement with the simulation results of ADS and Ansoft＇s HFSS over a wide frequency range.

A 97 dB dynamic range CSA-based readout circuit with analog temperature compensation for MEMS capacitive sensors

Abstract： This paper presents a charge-sensitive-amplifier （CSA） based readout circuit for capacitive microelectro-mechanical-system （MEMS） sensors. A continuous-time （CT） readout structure using the chopper technique is adopted to cancel the low frequency noise and improve the resolution of the readout circuits. An operational trans-conductance amplifier （OTA） structure with an auxiliary common-mode-feedback-OTA is proposed in the fully differential CSA to suppress the chopper modulation induced disturbance at the OTA input terminal. An analog temperature compensation method is proposed, which adjusts the chopper signal amplitude with temperature variation to compensate the temperature drift of the CSA readout sensitivity. The chip is designed and implemented in a 0.35μm CMOS process and is 2.1 × 2.1 mm2 in area. The measurement shows that the readout circuit achieves 0.9 aF/√H capacitive resolution, 97 dB dynamic range in 100 Hz signal bandwidth, and 0.8 mV/fF sensitivity with a temperature drift of 35 ppm/℃ after optimized compensation.

A low-noise high-linearity interface ASIC for MEMS gyroscopes

This paper presents a continuous-time analog interface ASIC for use in MEMS gyroscopes. A charge sensitive amplifier with a chopper stabilization method is adopted to suppress the low-frequency noise. In order to cancel the effect caused by the gyroscope capacitive mismatch, a mismatch auto-compensation circuit is imple- mented. The gain and phase shift of the drive closed loop is controlled separately by an auto gain controller and an adjustable phase shifter. The chip is fabricated in a 0.35 μm CMOS process. The test of the chip is performed with a vibratory gyroscope, and the measurement shows that the noise floor is 0.003°/s√Hz, and the measured drift stability is 43°/h. Within -300 to 300°/s of rotation rate input range, the non-linearity is less than 0.1%.