A High-Performance Dual-Cantilever High-Shock Accelerometer Single-Sided Micromachined in (111) Silicon Wafers.

A single-side processed dual-cantilever high-shock accelerometer in (111) silicon wafers is proposed in this paper. The device is formed by using advanced silicon surface and bulk micromachining technologies, including deep-reactive ionic etch and lateral under-etching structural release. Because the sensor is fabricated in (111) silicon wafer and has a single-chip single-side structure, it facilitates simple post-packaging, reduced device dimension, and low cost mass production. The controllable gap distance between the bottom surface of the cantilever and the substrate can be used for restraining cross-sensitivity of orthogonal direction. The performance of the accelerometer is examined by using a free dropping hammer system. The results of the shock test show the acceleration sensitivity of 0.71 \mu\Vg^-1 for a 20 500 g shock acceleration under 3.3 V power supply and the resonant frequency of 79 kHz. The zero-point offset temperature drift of the sensor is 89 \ppm/^\circ\C within the temperature range of -20\ ^\circ\C to 120 ^\circ\C. \hfill[2010-0048] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]