Editorial: Design and analysis of CMOS-MEMS transducers

Abstract

Throughout human history, certain technologies/discoveries (e.g., fire, wheel, agriculture, printing, etc.) have had an unparalleled effect on the lifestyle. Integrated Circuit (IC) technology had an imitable impact on day-to-day lives in the late 20th century. The rapid growth in the performance of computation and its related applications was possible due to the regular shrinking of transistor size following Moore’s law (Moore, 2006). There is a growing demand for low-power, high computation, high data rate, and wireless chips in industry, automobiles, hospitals, homes, and personal devices. The recent semiconductor shortage due to the pandemic disrupted manufacturing directly affects the economy of many countries (Saracco, 2022). This has resulted in renewed interest in the acquisition of semiconductor technologies around the world. The pervasive adoption of 5G communication systems, electronic vehicles, high-performance computing, virtual reality, and personal entertainment devices is constrained by the complex and expensive fabrication technology required to continue device scaling with more-Moore (Yeric, 2016). Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) have been used to realize complex functions like sensors and actuators. MEMS can be combined with circuits to provide more-than-Moore functionality. The technology scaling has resulted in system-on-chip (SoC) which incorporates analog, digital, and RF circuits to satisfy multiple applications (i.e., more-than-Moore). This was extended with MEMS to the system-in-package (SiP) incorporating an accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, magnetometer, heart-rate sensors, etc., with SoC in a package (Lammel, 2015). Traditionally, piezoelectric MEMS has seen greater interest due to the larger electromechanical coupling coefficient and direct replacement with quartz systems. Piezoelectric materials are not compatible with the CMOS fabrication process and require SiP. This limits device performance due to the parasitic effect of inter-package interconnects (Pillai et al., 2016). The fast data rate of modern SoC requires a small form factor to reduce the parasitic effect from PCB routing. With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), smart gadgets are needed to prevent congestion of the widely used 2.4 GHz band. Smart devices can collect data and process it to give predictive analysis, e.g., fall detection and call for assistance, warning about irregular heartbeats, increase in particulate matter, etc. A Smart system-on-chip (S-SoC) is the next logical step. A conceptual smart system on chip schematic for MEMS and circuit integration is depicted in Figure 1. The S-SoC would have sensors for the detection of physical, chemical, optical, and biological quantities. It would also have a MEMS transceiver integrated with OPEN ACCESS