Temperature dependence and drift of a thermal accelerometer

Silicon accelerometers are increasingly used in the automotive industry, but applications for 3D mice or so-called gesture-controlled remote controls are also feasible. For such applications, small, low-cost sensors are needed which not only meet certain requirements for sensitivity; working range or response time but can also work in a large temperature range as occurs in automobiles. In this paper, an accelerometer based on a thermal principle is described. This accelerometer works at frequencies up to 300 Hz; it has an output signal of about 20 mV g−1 and shows very low temperature dependence and drift for a thermal device.