ELECTROSTATIC FORCES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON CAPACITIVE MECHANICAL SENSORS

This paper describes the electrostatic forces developed between the pl ates of capacitive mechanical sensors built in crystalline silicon and their effects on the measurement and the fabrication process. In sing le capacitive sensors the electrical forces can introduce offset error s in the measuring process, or can cause the collapse of the sensing s tructure or jeopardize the functionality of the final device due to th e sticking or even bonding of the movable parts. Also it is investigat ed how the limits are affected when scaling down the dimensions of the sensors. Finally, some solutions to avoid the negative effects of the electrostatic forces are proposed.