Mechanisms of noise sources in microelectromechanical systems

It is well known that several mechanisms of noise generation appear in microelectronic devices, causing thermal noise, shot noise, generation-recombination noise and 1/f noise. Besides these noises, in the case of microelectromechanical systems, specific additional noises appear as a consequence of the fact that the "building blocks" (micro-cantilevers or membranes) of micromechanical systems have very small geometrical dimensions and mass. Most often, these noises are the consequences of temperature fluctuations caused by dissipative processes in various vibrational structures within the micromechanical systems. This work presents a methodology of calculation of noises, characteristic of microelectromechanical systems and applies it to the calculation of limiting performances of accelerometers, sensing probe cantilevers and thermal infrared detectors. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.