Dynamic control of an accelerometer bandwidth through tunable damping factor and effective moment of inertia

Abstract : In this paper, we report the dynamic bandwidth control of an accelerometer by reducing both its quality factor and its effective inertia. The MEMS is coupled with two builtin resistors to tune the frequency response through a DC voltage. The conception, the fabrication and the electrical testing of the accelerometer are presented. The reduction of the effective moment of inertia is experimentally evidenced on the basis of an analytical model. To the best of our knowledge, such a control of the bandwidth including inertial effects has not been reported yet. This strategy does not impact the quasi-static gain of the device and may be operated in vacuum.