A latching accelerometer fabricated by the anisotropic etching of (110) oriented silicon wafers

The anisotropic etching of (110) oriented silicon wafers is used to fabricate a simple latching accelerometer for moderate and high-g applications. This accelerometer consists of two cantilever beams that interlock at a set threshold acceleration which is determined by their design. The accelerometer is robust, fairly easy to fabricate and can be mass produced. Two units designed to latch at 85 g and 600 g were tested on a centrifuge and the error between the calculated latching acceleration and the experimental result was less than 15%. Arrays of accelerometers can be easily fabricated on the same silicon wafer to bracket the true acceleration. Readout schemes could include either capacitive or optical techniques. The structure can be easily designed for a wide range of acceleration ranging from a few g to several thousand g.