Bulk-micromachined silicon resonant accelerometer

A micromechanical silicon resonant accelerometer (SRA) with micro leverage mechanism amplifying the inertial force is presented. SRA consists of a pair of double-ended tuning forks (DETF), a proof mass and a micro lever mechanism. Firstly, the relation between frequency shift and applied force of DETF is modeled with the classical Bernoulli-Euler beams theory and then simulated by the finite element analysis (FEA). The conclusion is that analytical analysis results are very close to simulation results. Secondly micro leverage mechanism is presented, and the equations for calculating the amplification factor are derived. The effect of pivot spring and output system constants on the amplification factor is analyzed. According to the analytical results, the SRA is designed and fabricated. Comparison of the obtained experimental results and analytical results shows good agreement.