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Design, fabrication and testing of a high performance silicon piezoresistive Z-axis accelerometer with proof mass-edge-aligned-flexures

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Abstract

This paper presents design, fabrication and testing of a quad beam silicon piezoresistive Z-axis accelerometer with very low cross-axis sensitivity. The accelerometer device proposed in the present work consists of a thick proof mass supported by four thin beams (also called as flexures) that are connected to an outer supporting rim. Cross-axis sensitivity in piezoresistive accelerometers is an important issue particularly for high performance applications. In the present study, low cross-axis sensitivity is achieved by improving the device stability by placing the four flexures in line with the proof mass edges. Various modules of a finite element method based software called CoventorWare™ was used for design optimization. Based on the simulation results, a flexure thickness of 30 μm and a diffused resistor doping concentration of 5 × 1018 atoms/cm3 were fixed to achieve a high prime-axis sensitivity of 122 μV/Vg, low cross-axis sensitivity of 27 ppm and a relatively higher bandwidth of 2.89 kHz. The designed accelerometer was realized by a complementary metal oxide semiconductor compatible bulk micromachining process using a dual doped tetra methyl ammonium hydroxide etching solution. The fabricated accelerometer devices were tested up to 13 g static acceleration using a rate table. Test results of fabricated devices with 30 μm flexure thickness show an average prime axis sensitivity of 111 μV/Vg with very low cross-axis sensitivities of 0.652 and 0.688 μV/Vg along X-axis and Y-axis, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Prof. S. K. Lahiri and (Late) Prof. S. Kal for their valuable suggestions. The work was partly supported by NPSM, Government of India. The authors acknowledge staff members of microelectronics and MEMS laboratory, IIT, Kharagpur for their help at various stages in the realization of the sensors. The authors acknowledge Ms. Linda Mary Jacob, Ms. Anju and Ms. Ashwini for their help in preparing the manuscript. The authors acknowledge the support from ADE, DRDO lab, Government of India for providing measurement facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electronics Engineering, VIT University, Chennai Campus, Chennai, 600048, India

    A. Ravi Sankar

  2. Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, School of Electrical Sciences, Karunya University, Karunya Nagar, Coimbatore, 641114, India

    J. Grace Jency

  3. School of Medical Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India

    S. Das

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  1. A. Ravi Sankar
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Correspondence to A. Ravi Sankar.

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Sankar, A.R., Jency, J.G. & Das, S. Design, fabrication and testing of a high performance silicon piezoresistive Z-axis accelerometer with proof mass-edge-aligned-flexures. Microsyst Technol 18, 9–23 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-011-1371-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-011-1371-2

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