Tri-axial high-g CMOS-MEMS capacitive accelerometer array

Abstract

A chip-scale tri-axial CMOS-MEMS high-g accelerometer is demonstrated. The accelerometer uses an array of cantilever structures, electrically connected in parallel for capacitive sensing. The measured sensitivity is 3.02 muV/g for in-plane motion and 9.91 muV/g for out-of- plane motion. CMOS-MEMS integration allows the sensor to be lower in weight and volume than existing non-integrated piezoresistive and piezoelectric high-g accelerometers.