A micromechanical resonator is disclosed. The resonator includes a resonant micromechanical element. A film of annealable material deposited on a facial surface of the element. In one instance, the resonance of the element can be adjusting by using a feedback loop to control annealing of the deposited film.

An integrated sensor device including a first die, housing a sensor element to detect a quantity external to the sensor device and transduce the external quantity into an electrical sensing signal; a second die mechanically coupled to the first die so that the first and second dies are stacked on one another along one and the same axis; and at least one heater of a resistive type integrated in the first die and/or in the second die, having a first conduction terminal and a second conduction terminal configured to couple respective first and second conduction terminals of a signal generator for causing an electric current to flow, in use, between the first and second conduction terminals of the heater and generate heat by the Joule effect. It is possible to carry out calibration in temperature of the sensor element.

The disclosure provides a system, comprising: a MEMS capacitive transducer, comprising one or more first capacitive plates coupled to a first node and one or more second capacitive plates coupled to a second node; biasing circuitry coupled to the first node, operable to provide a biasing voltage to the one or more first capacitive plates; and test circuitry coupled to the second node, operable to: selectively apply one or more current sources to the second node, so as to charge and discharge the MEMS capacitive transducer and so vary a signal based on a voltage at said second node between an upper value and a lower value; determine a parameter that is indicative of a time period of the variation of the signal; and determine a capacitance of the MEMS capacitive transducer based on the parameter that is indicative of the time period.

A thermal regulation system includes an inertial measurement unit (IMU), one or more temperature adjusting devices in thermal communication with the IMU, and configured to adjust a temperature of the IMU from an initial temperature to a predetermined temperature, a filler provided in a space between the IMU and at least one temperature adjusting device of the one or more temperature adjusting devices, and a shared substrate configured to bear a weight of the IMU and the one or more temperature adjusting devices. The shared substrate includes a metallic board.

A method for characterizing structures etched in a substrate, such as a wafer is disclosed. The method includes the following steps: illuminating the bottom of at least one structure with an illumination beam issued from a light source emitting light with a wavelength adapted to be transmitted through the substrate, acquiring, with an imaging device positioned on the bottom side of said substrate, at least one image of a bottom of the at least one structure through the substrate, and measuring at least one data, called lateral data, relating to a lateral dimension of the bottom of the at least one HAR structure from the at least one acquired image. A system implementing such a method is also disclosed.

An environmental sensor including sensor elements to measure multiple physical quantities associated with a surrounding environment, and includes a state determination unit that determines whether the environmental sensor is in a first state in which the sensor is fixed at a predetermined installation location or in a second state in which the sensor is away from an installation location, and an operation switch unit that switches an operation of each sensor element that measures the physical quantities based on whether a state determined by the determination unit is the first state or the second state.

A method for characterizing a nonlinear system using the system's steady state response including: exciting a transducer using a plurality of frequencies while decoupled from the nonlinear system, measuring the amplitude of response of each of the frequencies while decoupled from the nonlinear system, exciting the transducer using the plurality of frequencies while coupled to the nonlinear system, measuring the amplitude of response of each of the frequencies and the second harmonic of at least some of the frequencies, and solving for a set of phenomenological parameters characterizing the dynamics of the nonlinear system.

An integrated sensor device including a first die, housing a sensor element to detect a quantity external to the sensor device and transduce the external quantity into an electrical sensing signal; a second die mechanically coupled to the first die so that the first and second dies are stacked on one another along one and the same axis; and at least one heater of a resistive type integrated in the first die and/or in the second die, having a first conduction terminal and a second conduction terminal configured to couple respective first and second conduction terminals of a signal generator for causing an electric current to flow, in use, between the first and second conduction terminals of the heater and generate heat by the Joule effect. It is possible to carry out calibration in temperature of the sensor element.

The present invention generally relates to a mechanism for testing a MEMS hysteresis. A power management circuit may be coupled to the electrodes that cause the movable plate that is disposed between the electrodes in a MEMS device to move. The power management circuit may utilize a charge pump, a comparator and a resistor ladder.

Embodiments of the present invention may provide a method of measuring an unknown capacitance of a device. The method may comprise the steps of driving a test signal to a circuit system that includes a current divider formed by the device with unknown capacitance and a reference capacitor; mirroring a current developed in the reference capacitor to a second circuit system that includes a measurement impedance; measuring a voltage within the second circuit system; and deriving a capacitance of the unknown capacitance based on the measured voltage with reference to a capacitance of the reference capacitor and the measurement impedance.