A comb drive for MEMS device includes a stator and a rotor displaceable relative to the stator in a first direction. The stator includes stator comb fingers and the rotor includes rotor comb fingers. The stator comb fingers are coupled to two high impedance nodes to form high impedance node domains arranged in the first direction. The rotor comb fingers are coupled to two oppositely biased electrodes to form oppositely biased domains. Pairs of capacitors with opposite acoustic polarity are respectively formed between the high impedance node domains and the oppositely biased domains. The comb drive of the present invention has increased electrostatic sensitivity for a given unit cell cross-sectional area whilst maintaining an acceptable capacitance and linearity of voltage signal vs displacement. Extra force shim unit cells may be used, which allows for the stiffness between the rotor and stator to be controlled and reduced to zero for a particular displacement range, without impacting sensitivity.

A temperature sensor is a temperature sensor using a MEMS resonator, and includes: a MEMS resonator; a sweeper that sweeps a frequency of an excitation signal for a vibrator of the MEMS resonator in a predetermined sweep direction, and outputs the excitation signal swept to the MEMS resonator; a discontinuity point detector that obtains a vibration state information signal, which is a characteristic quantity expressing a vibration state of the vibrator based on the excitation signal, from the MEMS resonator, and detects a detection value that is (i) a frequency of the excitation signal when the vibration state information signal obtained changes discontinuously or (ii) a time corresponding to the frequency; and a converter that determines a physical quantity acting on the MEMS resonator based on the detection value detected.

A MEMS pressure sensor is provided having a membrane made with one of plurality of metal layers. A lid is positioned above the membrane and connected to a plurality of cavity walls at distal ends of the membrane. The lid includes an array of holes positioned on a region of the lid. A fixed metal electrode is positioned below the lid.

In certain embodiments, an accelerometer is a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device including a proof mass, an anchor located in an opening defined by a body of the proof mass, a spring, a drive electrode, and a sense beam. The spring and the proof mass form a spring system suspended from the anchor. The sense beam oscillates at a particular resonance frequency based on application of a signal to the drive electrode. The MEMS device further includes a support structure coupled to the anchor. The support structure operates as a stress decoupling area and includes a support beam, with the spring corresponding to an end of the support beam that has a reduced thickness. The sense beam has a first end attached to the proof mass and a second end attached to the support beam such that the sense beam is orthogonal to the support beam.

A MicroElectroMechanical System (MEMS) includes a MEMS device; a feature extraction component coupled to an output of the MEMS device, wherein the feature extraction component is configured to provide a plurality of features of an output signal of the MEMS device; and a low data rate interface coupled to the feature extraction components, wherein the low data rate interface is configured to transmit the plurality of features of the output signal of the MEMS device, and wherein a low data rate of the low data rate interface is determined by a number of the plurality of features transmitted, wherein the MEMS device, the feature extraction component, and the low data rate interface are packaged together in a semiconductor package.

A method for forming a MEMS device includes following operations. A first semiconductor layer is formed over a substrate. A plurality of first pillars are formed over the first layer. A second layer is formed over the first pillars and the first layer. A plurality of second pillars are formed over the second layer. A third layer is formed over the second pillars and the second layer.

An actuator device includes a support part, a first movable part, a second movable part, a first connecting part connecting the first movable part to the second movable part, a second connecting part connecting the second movable part to the support part, a spiral coil provided to the second movable part, a first external terminal provided to the support part, and a first wiring connected to an inner end portion of the coil and the first external terminal. The first wiring includes a lead wiring connected to the first external terminal, and a straddle wiring provided to the second movable part so as to straddle the coil and connected to the inner end of the coil and the lead wiring. The width of the straddle wiring is larger than the width of the coil, and the thickness of the straddle wiring is smaller than the thickness of the coil.

Sensor apparatus and methods for operating the same for measuring acceleration are disclosed. In some embodiments, circuitry inside a sensor digitizes a measured acceleration signal from an accelerometer into a digitized acceleration signal, which is processed by a digital equalization filter within the sensor to provide an equalized acceleration signal. The equalized acceleration signal may have a frequency response that is substantially flat over a frequency range that extends beyond the resonant frequency of a MEMs sensor within the accelerometer of the sensor.

An optical module includes a support layer, a device layer which is provided on the support layer, and a movable mirror which is mounted in the device layer. The device layer has a mounting region in which the movable mirror is mounted, and a driving region which is connected to the mounting region. A space corresponding to at least the mounting region and the driving region is formed between the support layer and the device layer. The mounting region is disposed between a pair of elastic support regions included in the driving region and is supported by the pair of elastic support regions.

An optical module includes a support layer, a device layer which is provided on the support layer, and a movable mirror which is mounted in the device layer. The device layer has a mounting region in which the movable mirror is mounted, and a driving region which is connected to the mounting region. A space corresponding to at least the mounting region and the driving region is formed between the support layer and the device layer. The mounting region is disposed between a pair of elastic support regions included in the driving region and is supported by the pair of elastic support regions.