MEMS integration and characterizations for health monitoring applications

Characterization of a product is an expensive and yet one of the most important step in the finalization step. At Schlumberger, a project has been developed to design a new sensor package of miniaturized sensors to be embedded on automated drilling rigs and tools for oil and gas applications. The main focus of this internship is on the characterization of the 3-axis accelerometer in the MEMS transducer in the sensor package, in collaboration with a laboratory with expertise in microelectronics, CEA-Leti. In conjunction of my courses in the Master’s programme Nanotech, having a strong base in MEMS technology, cleanroom technniques and characterization techniques, this internship will allow me to apply my basic knowledge learnt during my courses. The main objective of the internship is the construction of a test plan to perform characterizations for assessing the MEMS transducer performances based on the requirements defined during the design step. Experimental data obtained might be used for potential design recommendations, if relevant. The construction of the test plan consisted in evaluating the specifications of the transducer’s requirement and constructing an interface of communication with the MEMS using wire-bonding technique. As future development, multiple parallel characterization of the MEMS transducer should also be performed with the specific data acquisition system. With the duration of this 6-months-internship, only certain characteristics was able to be characterized and validated due to instrument limitations such as the transducer’s output impedance, offset, sensitivity, linearity and hysteresis. With a sample size of around 20 transducer axis, the results that have been obtained are rather promising. These experimental data will serve as future reference and discussion topic with the manufacturer of the transducer.