A high-g overload-protected accelerometer with a novel microstructure

A high-g overload protected piezoresistive accelerometer with the cave form section and two-end-fixed beams was introduced in this paper. Based on the finite element method (FEM) simulation, an optimal design of the microstructure was presented. The accelerometer was fabricated by standard IC process, ICP plasma etching and silicon anodic bonding technique. The testing results show that the accelerometer can bear 20,000g shock, the non-linearity reaches to 0.5% in the ±50g full scale, sensitivity reaches 0.8mV/g, and the operation frequency range is from DC to 2kHz.