FABRICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A SILICON CAPACITIVE STRUCTURE FOR SIMULTANEOUS DETECTION OF ACCELERATION AND ANGULAR RATE

Monitoring motion parameters is increasingly important in automotive a pplications and robotics. a silicon micromachined structure 1 cm x 2 c m in size has been designed and fabricated, which can detect linear ac celeration g and angular rate omega simultaneously and independently. This is accomplished by capacitive detection of (a) the displacement d ue to acceleration and (b) the tilt due to centrifugal forces of two s eismic masses symmetrically suspended by torsion bars. The ratio or th e respective sensitivities to acceleration g and angular rate w can be adjusted through the dimensions and the shape of the torsion bars.