FEM Based Design and Simulation of Bulk Micromachined MEMS Accelerometers with Low Cross Axis Sensitivity

Author

Mukhiya, R. ; Adami, A. ; Bagolini, A. ; Zen, M. ; Kal, S.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Indian Inst. of Technol., Kharagpur

fYear

2006

fDate

24-26 April 2006

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

This paper reports the design and simulation of two MEMS piezoresistive accelerometers for single axis low g (plusmn2g) automotive applications. Both the accelerometer structures consist of four beams at the top with eight embedded resistors as sensing elements to form Wheatstone bridge network and interconnected to minimize the cross axis sensitivity. FEM based design and simulation results for both the accelerometers are presented and compared, which are performed using commercially available MEMSCAD tool CoventorWarereg. Fabrication process and technological aspects to realize both the structures are discussed. The sensitivity of the two accelerometers is 6.5 mV/g and 5.85 mV/g respectively. Cross axis sensitivity of the structures is three orders lower than the prime axis sensitivity

Keywords

accelerometers; automotive components; finite element analysis; micromachining; microsensors; piezoresistive devices; CoventorWare; FEM; MEMS piezoresistive accelerometers; MEMSCAD tool; Wheatstone bridge; accelerometer structures; automotive applications; bulk micromachining; embedded resistors; low cross axis sensitivity; network interconnection; Accelerometers; Bridge circuits; Damping; Fabrication; Mechanical sensors; Micromechanical devices; Piezoresistance; Piezoresistive devices; Resistors; Stress; Accelerometer; Cross-axis sensitivity; Piezoresistance;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Thermal, Mechanical and Multiphysics Simulation and Experiments in Micro-Electronics and Micro-Systems, 2006. EuroSime 2006. 7th International Conference on

Conference_Location

Como

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0275-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ESIME.2006.1644047

Filename

1644047