A novel on-line monitoring technique for integrated MEMS is presented based on injection of an electrical test stimulus into the bias structure through both superposition or modulation. The techniques “bias superposition and bias modulation” both support integrated structural test that targets both production test and on-line condition monitoring through generation of dependability metric. It can in some cases be used to provide the raw data for on-line calibration and compensation. The techniques are demonstrated on three integrated MEMS structures from the field of consumer electronics, aerospace and environmental sensing and have been successfully applied to a thick film conductance sensor.
The first full paper on a new on-line embedded test strategy for MEMS, where my team developed the concept and extended it in collaboration with CNRS (Montpellier), University of Paris Sud and QinetiQ UK. The concepts are applied to three very different demonstrators, two industrial, one academic. Results from one of the demonstrators are being further developed for industrial application (ref RJBunyan@QinetiQ.com) Academic impact maximised through financial support and dissemination activities care of the EU FP6 Network of Excellence in Design for Micro & Nano-Manufacture (507255) and DTI Foresight Vehicle Project GR/N36271/01 'Design for Reliability for Electronics in Automotive Manufacture. RAE_import_type : Journal article RAE_uoa_type : General Engineering
