The development of mesoscale accelerometers with single crystal piezoelectric materials

Single crystal piezoelectric materials hold great promise as a candidate sensor element from which to develop low-noise, high-sensitivity vibration transducers. This paper outlines the integration of relaxor ferroelectric materials (PZNT and PMNT) into a mesoscale accelerometer. A robust bimorph design was selected given reliability considerations. Over a frequency range between 100-1000 Hz, the spectral noise of the single crystal-based accelerometer was approximately one order of magnitude lower (20 dB) than its PZT-based counterparts of equal dynamic mass and physical dimensions. This work was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research as part of a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program