A novel sandwich differential capacitive accelerometer with symmetrical double-sided serpentine beam-mass structure

This paper presents a novel differential capacitive silicon micro-accelerometer with symmetrical double-sided serpentine beam-mass sensing structure and glass–silicon–glass sandwich structure. The symmetrical double-sided serpentine beam-mass sensing structure is fabricated with a novel pre-buried mask fabrication technology, which is convenient for manufacturing multi-layer sensors. The glass–silicon–glass sandwich structure is realized by a double anodic bonding process. To solve the problem of the difficulty of leading out signals from the top and bottom layer simultaneously in the sandwich sensors, a silicon pillar structure is designed that is inherently simple and low-cost. The prototype is fabricated and tested. It has low noise performance (the peak to peak value is 40 μg) and μg-level Allan deviation of bias (2.2 μg in 1 h), experimentally demonstrating the effectiveness of the design and the novel fabrication technology.

[1]  Wei Li,et al.  A novel sandwich capacitive accelerometer with a double-sided 16-beam-mass structure , 2014 .

[2]  Cristina Rusu,et al.  Capacitive slanted-beam three-axis accelerometer: I. Modelling and design , 2005 .

[3]  Seung-Ki Lee,et al.  Through-glass copper via using the glass reflow and seedless electroplating processes for wafer-level RF MEMS packaging , 2013 .

[4]  Andrew S. Holmes,et al.  Performance of integrated retainer rings in silicon micro-turbines with thrust style micro-ball bearings , 2013 .

[5]  K. Najafi,et al.  An all-silicon single-wafer micro-g accelerometer with a combined surface and bulk micromachining process , 2000, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[6]  Jun-Yeob Song,et al.  A study on wafer level TSV build-up integration method , 2013, 2013 IEEE International 3D Systems Integration Conference (3DIC).

[7]  F. Ayazi,et al.  Sub-Micro-Gravity In-Plane Accelerometers With Reduced Capacitive Gaps and Extra Seismic Mass , 2007, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[8]  Weileun Fang,et al.  Implementation of a gap-closing differential capacitive sensing Z-axis accelerometer on an SOI wafer , 2009 .

[9]  Guofen Xie,et al.  Process development of an all-silicon capacitive accelerometer with a highly symmetrical spring-mass structure etched in TMAH + Triton-X-100 , 2014 .

[10]  Christofer Hierold,et al.  Wafer-level packaging and direct interconnection technology based on hybrid bonding and through silicon vias , 2011 .

[11]  Xuezhong Wu,et al.  A novel fabrication method based on an after thermal oxidation process for the realization of silicon-beams with normative polygon cross sections shapes , 2013 .

[12]  Willy Sansen,et al.  A combined silicon fusion and glass/silicon anodic bonding process for a uniaxial capacitive accelerometer , 1992 .

[13]  Gerhard Lammel The future of MEMS sensors in our connected world , 2015, 2015 28th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS).

[14]  Tayfun Akin,et al.  A Bulk-Micromachined Fully Differential MEMS Accelerometer With Split Interdigitated Fingers , 2013, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[15]  Farrokh Ayazi,et al.  Micromachined inertial sensors , 1998, Proc. IEEE.

[16]  Xiaofeng Zhou,et al.  Fabrication of a MEMS capacitive accelerometer with symmetrical double-sided serpentine beam-mass structure , 2014 .