Instrumentation for the generation of physical quantities

  

Micro-Magnetics 3-axis magnetic field generator
Magnetic Field Generator The instrument is based on Helmholtz coils with capability of generating DC or slowly ramping fields up to 70 G (7 mT) and AC fields up to 20 G (2 mT) and 200 Hz frequency.
The instrument, featuring a reference sensor, is capable to compensate the Earth magnetic field. The guaranteed resolution in magnetic field setting is lower than 300 nT.
It is thus suited for characterization, calibration and qualification of magnetic field sensors for consumer and automotive applications.

Acutronic rate table with z-axis and y-axis mounting capabilities
Rate Table The instrument generates accurate angular rates along a single axis (the vertical axis), with a maximum full-scale of 3000 dps and a maximum frequency of 500 Hz (at a few tens dps).
A custom mounting of sensors in the vertical direction allows obtaining Y-axis rate testing capabilities.

The instrument is completed by automatic software for the generation and control of angular rates, and for dedicated characterization measurements of gyroscopes (sensitivity, power spectral density, Allan variance, bandwidth and real-time motion capture).

MEMS ultrasonic transducers and characterization station
CMUT The setup features 2D in-plane automatic motion controller with micrometric precision and a ULTRAN ultrasound transducer for characterization of CMUTs and PMUTs in the range 100 kHz – 10 MHz. Vertical displacement can be obtained through manual micrometric regulators.
The setup includes as well custom-developed boards for the generation of pulses and burst and for the readout from capacitive or piezoelectric membranes.
Emission efficiency, detection sensitivity, absorption and beam profiling as a function of the position are typical measurement allowed by the setup.

Bruel&Kjaer 20 kHz vibrating shaker
ShakerT The instrument is capable of generating vibration amplitudes up to a few g (gravity units) at frequencies up to 20 kHz.
Higher frequencies at smaller amplitudes are possible as well. The setup also features a closed-loop system to set the desired vibration amplitude and to obtain it through a reference precision accelerometer.
It is thus possible to characterize the response of accelerometers in terms of sensitivity and bandwidth, as well as the immunity of other MEMS devices (gyroscopes, magnetometers) to large vibrations in a frequency range that fully covers consumer and automotive requirements.

Dedicated instrumentation for MEMS

ITmems MEMS Characterization Platform
MEMS Characterization Platform The instrument is dedicated to the electromechanical characterization of MEMS sensors. Without the need of any interface board, it easily delivers relevant information about the MEMS under test (rest capacitance, stationary CV curves with pull-in and pull-out, resonance frequency and Q factor time-domain and frequency-domain analysis).

Dedicated LabVIEW routines are developed for the characterization of fatigue, adhesion phenomena, quadrature error evaluation in gyroscopes, and nonlinearity characterization of resonant structures.

The system includes the generation of single-ended or push-pull driving stimuli up to 40 V and 500 kHz, and a differential capacitive or piezoresistive readout.
 
NEWS from the lab...
05-09-2022 two contributions from the lab accepted at the 2022 ICECS conference to be held next October in Glasgow! Congrats to Matteo Gianollo and all co-authors!

10-06-2022 good luck to Paolo Frigerio, who has just become an Assistant Professor with the DEIB department!

01-05-2022 we welcome Riccardo Nastri, who joined the laboratory as a PhD student!

08-05-2022 three contributions from the lab were presented at the 9th IEEE International Symposium on inertial sensors and systems: congratulations to all co-authors! Special cheers to A. Buffoli for the first runner-up award!

20-06-2021 best poster award granted to our presentation at the 2021 Transducers conference! Congratulations to Paolo Frigerio, Matteo Gianollo and all other co-authors!

01-05-2021 we welcome Christian Padovani and Andrea Buffoli, joining the lab with PhD focused on high performance inertial sensors!

24-09-2020 two contributions from the MEMS lab have been accepted for lecture presentation at IEEE Sensors 2020, to be held this October. Congrats to both Marco Gadola (M&NEMS gyroscopes) and Paolo Frigerio (MEMS-based RTCs) for their research!

08-09-2020 the first thesis student who started the M.S. Thesis during the lockdown is today on his first lab day! Welcome back to the MEMS laboratory, stay safe and take care!

01-08-2020 congratulations to G. Mussi and co-authors for disseminating a fantastic paper on integrated electronics for MEMS RTC! Look for the article "A MEMS Real-Time Clock with Single-Temperature Calibration and Deterministic Jitter Cancellation" on the IEEE website!

12-05-2020 congratulations to L. Gaffuri for disclosing the first scientific IEEE article on 3D-printed MEMS flow meters!

04-11-2019 the MEMS and Microsensors laboratory celebrates 13 years of education and research! What a sweet way to do so!


30-10-2019 here the link to Prof. Langfelder invited talk at IEEE Sensors 2019. Enjoy!

01-09-2019 congratulations to G. Mussi and co-authors for disseminating a brilliant article on MEMS real-time-clocks compensation vs temperature! Look for the TIE article "An Outlook on Potentialities and Limits in Using Epitaxial Polysilicon for MEMS Real-Time Clocks" on the IEEE website!

20-08-2019 announcing the invited talk by Giacomo Langfelder at the upcoming IEEE Sensors conference 2019 in Montreal, Canada: "Frequency-modulated MEMS accelerometers for wide dynamic range and ultra-low consumption". Come join us in Quebec!

30-06-2019 Giacomo Langfelder presented an invited talk at the Transducers/Eurosensors 2019 Conference in Berlin, June 2019. The invited contribution title is "Frequency Modulated MEMS gyroscopes: recent developments , challenges and outlook". Check the upcoming proceedings on the IEEE website.

01-05-2019. Two presentations at the IEEE Inertial conference, three presentations at the IEEE MEMS conference, two presentations at the IFCS conference, and three presentations at Transducers... what a start for this 2019! Congratulations to all co-authors!

02-11-2018. A warm welcome to Paolo Frigerio and Leonardo Gaffuri, who have just started their PhD! Have three wonderful years of scientific research!

29-10-2018. A very complete article on the system-level development of frequency modulated gyroscopes has been accepted for publications in the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics! Congratulations to all co-authors of "Fully Integrated, 406 ¼A, 5 æ/hr, Full Digital Output Lissajous Frequency-Modulated Gyroscope"!