A micromachined piezoresistive accelerometer with high sensitivity: designand modelling

A micromachined piezoresistive accelerometer with high sensitivity and high natural frequency is designed and modelled in this paper. A novel structur e design, which can significantly increase the sensor's sensitivity while m aintaining a high natural frequency, is presented and optimized. A simplifi ed analytical model is established to describe the accelerometer's mechanic al behaviour. Finite element modelling was also conducted to verify the ana lytical model and evaluate the performance of the micro-accelerometer. Comp arison of the results obtained from the analytical model and finite element simulation shows good agreement. From the analysis, the configuration of t he accelerometer was optimised. Finally, the merits of this new design over commercial products in sensitivity and natural frequency are presented. (C ) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.