An arrayed accelerometer device of a wide range of detection for integrated CMOS-MEMS technology

This paper reports the design and experimental results of an arrayed accelerometer device in 3 x 3 format that can detect wide range of acceleration between 1G and 20G (1G = 9.8 m/s(2)). Implemented in a single chip has been performed by gold electroplating for integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor-microelectromechanical systems (CMOS-MEMS) technology. An equivalent circuit of a MEMS accelerometer has been developed with an electrical circuit simulator to demonstrate the mixed-behavior of the arrayed sensor device and sensing CMOS circuits. Mechanical and electrical crosstalk between the arrayed elements is analyzed on the electrical field distributions. Experimental results show that the resonant frequency and readout capacitance as a function of applied acceleration have been well explained by the results of the multi-physics simulation. As a result, it is confirmed that the proposed device is applicable to an integrated CMOS-MEMS arrayed accelerometer. (C) 2014 The Japan Society of Applied Physics