Polysilicon MEMS accelerometers exposed to shocks: numerical–experimental investigation

In this work the response of a commercial polysilicon MEMS accelerometer subject to shocks in the range 90–5500 g (g being the gravity acceleration) is studied. In situ measurements are compared with results of numerical simulations, obtained via a two-degrees-of-freedom model of sensor dynamics. It is shown that, despite several sources of nonlinearities, the numerical model can capture the main features of the MEMS transient response. The tested devices did not show malfunctioning, even when subject to acceleration peaks 100 times greater than those characterizing the working regime.

[1]  Timo Veijola,et al.  Methods for Solving Gas Damping Problems in Perforated Microstructures Using a 2D Finite-Element Solver , 2007, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland).

[2]  E. Dill,et al.  Theory of Elasticity of an Anisotropic Elastic Body , 1964 .

[3]  S. Mariani,et al.  Multi-Scale Modeling of Shock-Induced Failure of Polysilicon MEMS , 2007, 2007 International Conference on Thermal, Mechanical and Multi-Physics Simulation Experiments in Microelectronics and Micro-Systems. EuroSime 2007.

[4]  S. G. Lekhnit︠s︡kiĭ.  Theory of elasticity of an anisotropic body , 1981 .

[5]  Alberto Corigliano,et al.  Multi-scale Analysis of MEMS Sensors Subject to Drop Impacts , 2007, Sensors.

[6]  G. X Li,et al.  Drop test and analysis on micro-machined structures , 2000 .

[7]  V. T. Srikar,et al.  The reliability of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) in shock environments , 2002 .

[8]  Analysis of Gas Flow in MEMS by a Deterministic 3D BGK Kinetic Model , 2008 .

[9]  Thomas J. R. Hughes,et al.  Improved numerical dissipation for time integration algorithms in structural dynamics , 1977 .

[10]  Alberto Corigliano,et al.  A three-scale FE approach to reliability analysis of MEMS sensors subject to impacts , 2008 .

[11]  S. Timoshenko,et al.  THEORY OF PLATES AND SHELLS , 1959 .

[12]  Robert L. Mullen,et al.  Monte Carlo simulation of effective elastic constants of polycrystalline thin films , 1997 .

[13]  Ephraim Suhir.  Could shock tests adequately mimic drop test conditions? , 2002, 52nd Electronic Components and Technology Conference 2002. (Cat. No.02CH37345).

[14]  E. Suhir.  Is the maximum acceleration an adequate criterion of the dynamic strength of a structural element in an electronic product , 1997 .

[15]  I. Chasiotis,et al.  Elastic Properties and Representative Volume Element of Polycrystalline Silicon for MEMS , 2006 .

[16]  W. Brantley.  Calculated elastic constants for stress problems associated with semiconductor devices , 1973 .

[17]  M. Madou.  Fundamentals of microfabrication , 1997 .