A low-g bulk micromachined silicon accelerometer with area-changed differential capacitance

Badariah Bais; Ali Ahanchian; Yeop Majlis Burhanuddin

doi:10.1117/12.608050

1 July 2005 A low-g bulk micromachined silicon accelerometer with area-changed differential capacitance

Badariah Bais, Ali Ahanchian, Yeop Majlis Burhanuddin

Proceedings Volume 5836, Smart Sensors, Actuators, and MEMS II; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.608050
Event: Microtechnologies for the New Millennium 2005, 2005, Sevilla, Spain

Abstract

This paper presents the design, simulation and performance evaluation of an area-changed capacitive accelerometer for low-g applications. The movable mass of the accelerometer was designed with many fingers connected in parallel and suspended over stationary electrodes composed of differential comb fingers by means of suspension beams anchored onto the substrate. An area-changed differential capacitance method was used to sense the deflection of the proof mass. A folded suspension design with low spring constant and low cross-axis sensitivity was chosen. The simulation was performed using Coventorware2001.3 software. A 3-mask bulk micromachining wafer bonding fabrication process was utilized to produce this accelerometer. Silicon-on-glass was used to achieve high sensitivity and low mechanical noise while maintaining a simple structure. The general concept, main design considerations, fabrication procedure and performance of the resulted accelerometer was elaborated and presented. A linear relationship between the differential capacitance and acceleration was obtained. The accelerometer sensitivity was calculated to be 0.47pF/g with an acceleration range of ±5g.

Citation Download Citation

Badariah Bais, Ali Ahanchian, and Yeop Majlis Burhanuddin "A low-g bulk micromachined silicon accelerometer with area-changed differential capacitance", Proc. SPIE 5836, Smart Sensors, Actuators, and MEMS II, (1 July 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.608050

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