New Fabrication Technique For High Dynamic Range Tunneling Sensors

摘要

We have developed high dynamic range (10~5-10~6 g's) tunneling acclelerometers~1,2 that may be ideal for smart munitions applications by employing both surface and bulk micromachining processing techniques. The highly miniaturized surface-micromachined devices can be manufactured at very low cost and integrated on chip with the control electronics. Bulk-micromachined devies with Si as the cantilever material should have reduced long-term bias drift as well as better statility at higher temperatures. Fully integrated sensors may provide advantages in minimizing micrphonics for high-g applications. Previously, we described initial test results using electrostatic forces generated by a self-test electrode located under a Au cantilever~3. In this paper, we describe more recoent testing of Ni and Au cantilever devices on a shaker table using a novel, low input voltage (5 V) servo controller on both printed wiring board and surface-mount control circuity. In addition, we report our initial test results for devices packaged using a low-temperature wafer-level vacuum packaging technique for low-cost manufacturing.