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Motorola Sensor Device Data
MMA2260D
PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
The Motorola accelerometer is a surface--micromachined
integrated--circuit accelerometer.
The device consists of a surface micromachined capaci-
tive sensing cell (g--cell) and a CMOS signal conditioning
ASIC contained in a single integrated circuit package. The
sensing element is sealed hermetically at the wafer level us-
ing a bulk micromachined “cap’’ wafer.
The g--cell is a mechanical structure formed from semicon-
ductor materials (polysilicon) using semiconductor
processes (masking and etching). It can be modeled as a set
of beams attached to a movable central mass that move be-
tween fixed beams. The movable beams can be deflected
from their rest position by subjecting the system to an accel-
eration (Figure 2).
As the beams attached to the central mass move, the dis-
tance from them to the fixed beams on one side will increase
by the same amount that the distance to the fixed beams on
the other side decreases. The change in distance is a mea-
sure of acceleration.
The g--cell beams form two back--to--back capacitors (Fig-
ure 2). As the central mass moves with acceleration, the dis-
tance between the beams change and each capacitor’s
value will change, (C = NA
ε
/D). Where A is the area of the
facing side of the beam,
ε
is the dielectric constant, D is the
distance between the beams, and N is the number of beams.
The CMOS ASIC uses switched capacitor techniques to
measure the g--cell capacitors and extract the acceleration
data from the difference between the two capacitors. The
ASIC also signal conditions and filters (switched capacitor)
the signal, providing a high level output voltage that is ratio-
metric and proportional to acceleration.
Acceleration
Figure 2. Simplified Transducer Physical Model
SPECIAL FEATURES
Filtering
Motorola accelerometers contain an onboard 2--pole
switched capacitor filter. Because the filter is realized using
switched capacitor techniques, there is no requirement for
external passive components (resistors and capacitors) to
set the cut--off frequency.
Self--Test
The sensor provides a self--test feature that allows the ver-
ification of the mechanical and electrical integrity of the ac-
celerometer at any time before or after installation. A fourth
“plate’’ is used in the g--cell as a self--test plate. When the
user applies a logic high input to the self--test pin, a cali-
brated potential is applied across the self--test plate and
the moveable plate. The resulting electrostatic force
(Fe =
1
/
2
AV
2
/d
2
) causes the center plate to deflect. The re-
sultant deflection is measured by the accelerometer’s control
ASIC and a proportional output voltage results. This proce-
dure assures that both the mechanical (g--cell) and electronic
sections of the accelerometer are functioning.
Status
Motorola accelerometers include fault detection circuitry
and a fault latch. The Status pin is an output from the fault
latch, OR’d with self--test, and is set high whenever the fol-
lowing event occurs:
Parity of the EPROM bits becomes odd in number.
The fault latch can be reset by a rising edge on the self--
test input pin, unless one (or more) of the fault conditions
continues to exist.
F
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
For More Information On This Product,
Go to: www.freescale.com
n
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