MEMS accelerometers on polyimides for failure assessment in aerospace systems

This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of capacitive MEMS accelerometers on flexible polymer substrates. Simulated accelerometers demonstrated sensitivities of 8.3 – 23 fF/g in the z-axis and 2.5 – 9.2 fF/g for the lateral axes, depending on the device geometry, which determined the proof mass, spring constant and the resonant frequency of the accelerometers. Fabricated accelerometers showed sensitivities of 20–28 fF/g and 12–17 fF/g for the z- and lateral axes, respectively.