system and circuit design for a capacitive mems gyroscope - Aaltodoc

Preface
The research work reported in this thesis was carried out in the Electronic Circuit De-
sign Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland, in the years 2003-
2007. The work was funded in part by VTI Technologies, Vantaa, Finland, and in part
by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES), first as a
part of the project “Integration of Radiocommunication Circuits” (RADINT) within
the technology program “Miniaturizing Electronics – ELMO”, and later as a part of
other research projects. The work was also supported by the Graduate School in Elec-
tronics, Telecommunications, and Automation (GETA), by the Nokia Foundation, by
the Foundation of Electronics Engineers, and by the Emil Aaltonen Foundation. All
funders are gratefully acknowledged.
VTI Technologies is further acknowledged for providing the sensor elements, to-
gether with the necessary characterization data for the experimental work, for the initial
ideas on the system architecture, and for the assistance and equipment necessary for
the rate table measurements. In particular, Mr. Kimmo Törmälehto, Dr. Teemu Salo,
Mr. Anssi Blomqvist, Mr. Petri Klemetti, Mr. Hristo Brachkov, and Dr. Tomi Mattila
(who is currently with VTT Sensors, Espoo, Finland) are acknowledged for their time
and for numerous discussions on all aspects of the design and on the resulting pub-
lications. Mr. Kimmo Törmälehto, Dr. Teemu Salo, and Dr. Jaakko Ruohio are also
acknowledged for reading and commenting on this thesis. I also thank VTI Technolo-
gies for giving permission to publish the work presented in this thesis.
I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Kari Halonen, for the opportunity
to work in the laboratory on this research topic, all the way from the beginning of my
Master’s thesis to this dissertation. Professor Halonen has given me an opportunity to
work relatively freely in this research area, and has shown his trust by giving me lots of
responsibility and freedom regarding both this research project and other projects re-
lated to microsensors. I also warmly thank Professor L. Richard Carley from Carnegie
Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA and Professor Kofi Makinwa from Delft Uni-
versity of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands for reviewing this thesis, and for their
comments and suggestions.