A foundry fabricated high-speed rotation sensor using off-chip RF wireless signal transmission

Abstract

A novel MEMS surface-micromachined non-contact high-speed rotation sensor with total surface area under 4 mm/sup 2/ was developed using the MCNC Multi-User MEMS Processes (MUMPs). This paper reports the initial characterization of the sensor, including rotation and vibration tests. Initial results indicate that this piezoresistive sensor is capable of wirelessly measuring rotation speeds at /spl sim/2Hz/rpm/V with 5V input in the 100 to 6000 rpm rotation range. We believe our groundwork will allow the MEMS community to use the MUMPs foundry service to design simple and reliable high-speed rotation sensors that can be interfaced with commercial wireless chips for signal transmission.