Readout Techniques and Offset Compensation Strategies for Biomedical Resistive MEMS Sensors: A Comprehensive Review.

Abstract

Resistive MEMS sensors have become increasingly significant in biomedical and bioenvironmental monitoring due to their compact dimensions, low energy demand, and high sensitivity. Despite structural simplicity and integration benefits, these sensors face performance constraints arising from intrinsic nonidealities such as nonlinearity, thermal drift, parasitic interactions, and process mismatches. These limitations intensify at micro and nanoscale dimensions and generate substantial DC offset in the output. This review presents a systematic analysis of resistive sensor architectures, including single resistor, half bridge, and full bridge configurations, and evaluates their susceptibility to distortion and noise through analytical modeling. Comparative assessment reveals tradeoffs in sensitivity, linearity, noise resilience, and thermal stability. The paper also examines advanced readout methodologies designed for precision measurement, low power operation, and compact integration, including voltage to voltage, voltage to frequency, resistance to digital, and RC delay based interfaces. Particular emphasis is placed on DC offset compensation strategies that address sensor nonidealities, such as resistive, current driven, and capacitive DAC techniques, implemented across different stages of the signal chain. These approaches are critically appraised for their effectiveness in extending dynamic range, reducing energy consumption, and preserving signal fidelity in implantable and wearable platforms. The survey synthesizes recent designs and proposes a classification framework to guide the selection of interface and compensation strategies designed to sensor topology and application constraints. By integrating theoretical insights with practical design considerations, this work provides a comprehensive reference for developing robust, precise, and energy efficient resistive sensor interfaces.