An accelerometer made in a two-layer surface-micromachining technology

A microaccelerometer has been fabricated in surface-micromachining technology and is designed to work in the 50 g range. An important advantage of this type of sensor is that only two polysilicon layers are needed. Nevertheless, the sensor works as a differential capacitor and can also be driven in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSensors and actuators. A. Physical. Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 651 - 655
Main Authors Fricke, J, Obermeier, E
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 01.06.1996
Subjects
Accelerometers
Surface micromachining
Accelerometers
Surface micromachining
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Summary:A microaccelerometer has been fabricated in surface-micromachining technology and is designed to work in the 50 g range. An important advantage of this type of sensor is that only two polysilicon layers are needed. Nevertheless, the sensor works as a differential capacitor and can also be driven in a force-balanced mode. Compared to laterally driven structures, the technological steps are less critical. The typical bandwidth of the structure is approximately 3 kHz. The overall change in capacitance is 13 fF. In order to calculate the critical damping and to reduce deformation of the mass, simulations have been carried out.
ISSN:0924-4247
1873-3069
DOI:10.1016/S0924-4247(97)80032-5