Abstract
This paper reports a novel dual-axis microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) capacitive inertial sensor that utilizes multi-layered electroplated gold. All the MEMS structures are made by gold electroplating that is used as a post complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process. Due to the high density of gold, the Brownian noise on the proof mass becomes lower than those made of other materials such as silicon in the same size. The single gold proof mass works as a dual-axis sensing electrode by utilizing both out-of-plane (Z axis) and in-plane (X axis) motions; the proof mass has been designed to be 660 μm × 660 μm in area with the thickness of 12 μm, and the actual Brownian noise in the proof mass has been measured to be 1.2 \({\upmu}{\text{G/}}\sqrt {\text{Hz}}\) (in Z axis) and 0.29 \({\upmu}{\text{G/}}\sqrt {\text{Hz}}\) (in X axis) at room temperature, where 1 G = 9.8 m/s2. The miniaturized dual-axis MEMS accelerometer can be implemented in integrated CMOS-MEMS accelerometers to detect a broad range of acceleration with sub-1G resolution on a single sensor chip.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdolvand R, Vakili B, Ayazi F (2007) Sub-micro-gravity in-plane accelerometers with reduced capacitive gaps and extra seismic mass. J Microelectromech Syst 16(5):1036–1043. doi:10.1109/JMEMS.2007.900879
Boser BE, Howe RT (1996) Surface micromachined accelerometers. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits 31(3):366–375. doi:10.1109/4.494198
Chae J, Kulah H, Najafi K (2005) A monolithic three-axis micro-g micromachined silicon capacitive accelerometer. J Microelectromech Syst 14(2):235–242. doi:10.1109/JMEMS.2004.839347
Hong Y-J, Kim I-J, Ahn SC, Kim H-G (2010) Mobile health monitoring system based on activity recognition using accelerometer. Simul Model Pract Theor 18:446–455. doi:10.1016/j.simpat.2009.09.002
International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors 2013 edition. Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). http://www.itrs.net/Links/2013ITRS/2013Chapters/2013MEMS.pdf. Accessed 12 June 2014
Konishi T, Yamane D, Matsushima T, Motohashi G, Kagaya K, Ito H, Ishihara N, Toshiyoshi H, Machida K, Masu K (2013) Novel sensor structure and its evaluation for integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor microelectromechanical systems accelerometer. Jpn J Appl Phys. doi:10.7567/JJAP.52.06GL04
Konishi T, Yamane D, Matsushima T, Masu K, Machida K, Toshiyoshi H (2014) An arrayed accelerometer device of a wide range of detection for integrated CMOS-MEMS technology. Jpn J Appl Phys 53:027202. doi:10.7567/JJAP.53.027202
Lemkin M, Boser BE (1999) A three-axis micromachined accelerometer with a CMOS position-sense interface and digital offset-trim electronics. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits 34(4):456–468. doi:10.1109/4.753678
Lide DR (1994) CRC Handbook of chemistry and physics, 75th edn. CRC, Florida
Sun H, Fang D, Jia K, Maarouf F, Qu H, Xie H (2011) A low-power low-noise dual-chopper amplifier for capacitive CMOS-MEMS accelerometer. IEEE Sens J 11(4):925–933. doi:10.1109/JSEN.2010.2064296
Tan S-S, Liu C-Y, Yeh L-K, Chiu Y-H, Lu MS-C, Hsu KYJ (2011) An integrated low-noise sensing circuit with efficient bias stabilization for CMOS MEMS capacitive accelerometer. IEEE Trans Cir Syst 58(11):2661–2672. doi:10.1109/TCSI.2011.2142990
Tsai M-H, Liu Y-C, Fang W (2012) A three-axis CMOS-MEMS accelerometer structure with vertically integrated fully differential sensing electrodes. J Microelectromech Syst 21(6):1329–1337. doi:10.1109/JMEMS.2012.2205904
Tseng S-H, Lu MS-C, Wu P-C, Teng Y-C, Tsai H-H, Juang Y-Z (2012) Implementation of a monolithic capacitive accelerometer in a wafer-level 0.18 mm CMOS MEMS process. J Micromech Microeng. doi:10.1088/0960-1317/22/5/055010
Yamane D, Konishi T, Matsushima T, Machida K, Toshiyoshi H, Masu K (2014) Design of sub-1g microelectromechanical systems accelerometers. Appl Phys Lett 104:074102. doi:10.1063/1.4865377
Yazdi N, Ayazi F, Najafi K (1998) Micromachined inertial sensors. Proc IEEE 86(8):1640–1659. doi:10.1109/5.704269
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Dr. T. Maruno, Dr. Y. Akatsu, M. Yano, and K. Kudo with NTT-AT for technical discussions. This work is supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research 23360149, 15K17453, 25630138, and the NEXT program (GR024) of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yamane, D., Matsushima, T., Konishi, T. et al. A dual-axis MEMS capacitive inertial sensor with high-density proof mass. Microsyst Technol 22, 459–464 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-015-2539-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-015-2539-y