Studies on the enhancement of sensitivity in SOI MEMS Piezoelectric Accelerometer for low frequency applications

Abstract

quotIn the present research the design, fabrication and characterization of the SOI-MEMS newlinepiezoelectric accelerometer is reported. MEMS Accelerometers developed by many newlineresearchers in the literature have achieved the necessary high sensitivity at high newlinefrequencies. These devices have been based on piezoresistive or capacitive and rarely newlinepiezoelectric sensing elements. Our accelerometer design is motivated by the need for newlinesmall size, high sensitivity and low frequency operations. The main challenge of this newlinework is to design an accelerometer with high sensitivity at low frequencies. To achieve newlinethe high sensitivity, in the present device we fabricated a large proof mass and the large newlinemass is achieved through SOI wafer .The SOI wafer used in this work is of 450and#956;m newlinesilicon, 2and#956;m SiO2 and 15and#956;m crystal silicon or device layer. This technology is used to newlinefabricate high aspect ratio structure that gives superior performance as compared with newlinesimilar devices realized using poly silicon thin film technology.quot newline newline