Design of Two-Axis Capacitive Accelerater Using MEMS

摘要

MEMS technology is rapidly taking an important role in today's and future military systems. MEMS are able to lower the device size from millimeter to micrometer and maintain and sometimes surpass the performance of conventional devices. This thesis encompasses the knowledge acquired throughout the MEMS courses to design a two-axis capacitive accelerometer. The required acceleration and operating temperature range were 50g in each axis and -40 C to +80 C, respectively. The accelerometer was also needed to survive within a dynamic shocking environment with accelerations of up to 225g. The parameters of the accelerometer to achieve above specifications were calculated using lumped element approximation and the results were used for initial layout of it. A finite element analysis code (ANSYS) was used to perform simulations of the accelerometer under various operating conditions and to determine the optimum configuration. The simulated results were found to be within about 5% of the calculations indicating the validity of lumped element approach. The response of the designed accelerometer was 7 mV/g and with sensitivity of 1.3g at 3dB. It was also found that the accelerometer was stable in the desired range of operation including under the shock. Two axes sensing can be achieved using two identical accelerometers having their sensing axes perpendicular to each other.