Title :
A CMOS z-axis capacitive accelerometer with comb-finger sensing
Author :
Xie, Huikai ; Fedder, Gary K.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Abstract :
This paper reports the first design and experimental results of a z-axis accelerometer that utilizes the sidewall capacitance change of multi-conductor comb fingers. The accelerometer has a fully differential capacitive bridge interface and its fabrication is compatible with standard CMOS processes. The frequency response of the accelerometer is characterized both electrically and optically and about 9.3 kHz resonant frequency is measured, which matches MEMCAD simulation within 15%. Measured sensitivity is 0.5 mV/g with less than -40 dB cross-axis sensitivity, noise floor 6 mg/rtHz, and linear range from -27 g to 27 g
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; accelerometers; capacitive sensors; frequency response; micromachining; microsensors; sensitivity; 9.3 kHz; CMOS capacitive accelerometer; comb-finger sensing; fabrication; frequency response; fully differential capacitive bridge interface; multiconductor comb fingers; sensitivity; sidewall capacitance change; standard CMOS processes; z-axis capacitive accelerometer; Accelerometers; Bridge circuits; CMOS process; Capacitance; Fingers; Frequency response; Optical device fabrication; Optical noise; Optical sensors; Resonant frequency;
Conference_Titel :
Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2000. MEMS 2000. The Thirteenth Annual International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Miyazaki
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5273-4
DOI :
10.1109/MEMSYS.2000.838567
