Analysis and experimental verification of thermal drift in a constant temperature control type three-axis accelerometer for high temperatures with a novel composition of Wheatstone bridge

In this study, a suppression method of generated distortion on the beam structures due to thermal stress is investigated for much reduction of thermal drift. Moreover, a novel composition of Wheatstone bridge for acceleration detection is presented to reduce thermal drift more. Thermal drift analysis, and design optimization to minimize the thermal drift of sensitivity and offset voltage is performed with FEM analysis. Experimental results agreed well with these theoretical results. When the temperature of newly fabricated device base on thermal drift analysis is controlled at 300/spl deg/C with temperature control system, an offset voltage drift increased a little as compared to offset voltage drift when temperature is not controlled. And, Temperature Coefficient of Sensitivity (TCS) of the device is much reduced from original TCS of -1966 ppm//spl deg/C to -126 ppm//spl deg/C without any characteristic compensation.