Asymmetric seesaw structure of microelectromechanical systems accelerometer for sensing out-off-plane acceleration

摘要

Highlights?A torsional seesaw with an asymmetric beam-mass structure as the main sensing device.?In a system-level test, the sensitivity of the device was 11.3fF/g.?The nonlinearity was 0.62% over a range of 1g.?The x/z and y/z crosssensitivity values were 0.06% and 2.58%, respectively.AbstractA microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometer estimates the acceleration by detecting a difference in capacitance. This paper presents a small MEMS accelerometer with an asymmetric seesaw design. It was fabricated using a bulk machining process and accurately measures the applied acceleration based on a difference in capacitan ce. The large torque proof mass and chamfered structure of the torsional spring on the small chip were optimized to improve the device sensitivity and robustness of the design structure, respectively, which were the main factors in improving the MEMS sensor performance and maintai