Sensors (Sep 2016)

Fabrication of a Miniaturized ZnO Nanowire Accelerometer and Its Performance Tests

  • Hyun Chan Kim,
  • Sangho Song,
  • Jaehwan Kim

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/s16091499
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 9
p. 1499

Abstract

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This paper reports a miniaturized piezoelectric accelerometer suitable for a small haptic actuator array. The accelerometer is made with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire (NW) grown on a copper wafer by a hydrothermal process. The size of the accelerometer is 1.5 × 1.5 mm2, thus fitting the 1.8 × 1.8 mm2 haptic actuator array cell. The detailed fabrication process of the miniaturized accelerometer is illustrated. Performance evaluation of the fabricated accelerometer is conducted by comparing it with a commercial piezoelectric accelerometer. The output current of the fabricated accelerometer increases linearly with the acceleration. The miniaturized ZnO NW accelerometer is feasible for acceleration measurement of small and lightweight devices.

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