High Frequency FM MEMS Accelerometer Using Piezoresistive Resonators

Abstract

A novel frequency modulated (FM) accelerometer based on piezoresistive resonators is presented. The accelerometer uses two differential resonators, connected to the accelerometer proofmass by an amplifying leverage mechanism. The piezoresistive double-mass resonators are electrostatically driven in anti-phase and the output signal is measured piezoresistively by applying a bias current to the connecting microbeam of the double-mass resonators. Accelerometers were fabricated using SOI technology with a 5 µm device layer. Fabricated resonators show a high resonance frequency around 705 kHz and a Q-factor close to 20,000 when measured in vacuum. Preliminary measurements show a sensitivity around 0.46 Hz/g for a single resonator.

Keywords

• MEMS resonant accelerometer
• high-frequency accelerometer
• piezoresistive resonators stiffness
• and thus its resonance frequency
• since there are two resonators
• the acceleration measure is differential
• increasing the device sensitivity
• when an external