This work presents successful implementation and characterization of an 8-bit digitally operated micromachined accelerometer. Such device is comprised of an electrostatically tunable acceleration switch with 8 sets of electrostatic tuning electrodes. Similar to bits in a binary number, the tuning force of each electrode set increases by a factor of 2 with respect to the adjacent electrode set. A fabricated device has been interfaced with a micro-controller performing a binary search by controlling state of different tuning electrodes (ON or OFF) to interpret the acceleration with 8 bits of resolution. Measurement results show good agreement between the applied acceleration and the binary acceleration output of the sensor reported by the controller. The tested 8-bit prototype has full-scale acceleration of 2.7g with resolution 10.5 mg s (1/28 of full scale). Requiring only a bias voltage for operation (zero static current) and readout of the switch output (a digital high or low voltage) that can be performed directly by a digital controller, such devices can lead to ultra-low power accelerometers by eliminating the need for an analog-front-end. [2020-0201]

中文翻译：

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8 位数字操作微机械加速度计

这项工作展示了 8 位数字操作微机械加速度计的成功实现和表征。这种装置由一个带有 8 组静电调谐电极的静电可调谐加速度开关组成。类似于二进制数中的位，每个电极组的调谐力相对于相邻电极组增加 2 倍。制造的设备已与微控制器连接，通过控制不同调谐电极的状态（开或关）来执行二进制搜索，以解释具有 8 位分辨率的加速度。测量结果表明，施加的加速度与控制器报告的传感器二进制加速度输出之间具有良好的一致性。经测试的 8 位原型具有 2.7g 的满量程加速度，分辨率为 10。5 mg s（满量程的 1/28）。只需一个偏置电压即可运行（零静态电流）和开关输出的读出（数字高或低电压），可由数字控制器直接执行，此类器件可通过消除需要来实现超低功耗加速度计对于模拟前端。[2020-0201]