Structural Design and Modeling of MEMS-based Single Axis Capacitive Accelerometer

Structural design and modeling of single axis capacitive type accelerometer based on microelectromechanical system (MEMS) have studied in this article. The purpose in doing this article is to consider the structural design of the silicon sensitive element (SE), results of the deformation and the mechanical stress on the silicon SE with comb fingers at the linear accelerations ranging from 50g to 300g by using Multiphysics software ANSYS based on finite element analysis (FEA). Furthermore, the next deformation results of the silicon SE at the temperature ranges from −40°C to 80°C along the working axes X and Y have presented. Finally, to enhance the values of capacitance changes between sensitive comb fingers and increase the number of these comb fingers in 50, 60 and 70 (Model 1, Model 2 and Model 3) by using the program Ansys Maxwell were analyzed. According to the results of the whole structure, the optimized sensitivity of the capacitive accelerometer device at the single axis is proposed. The sensitivity of accelerometer can be improved through optimal selection of design parameters viz. length and width of the silicon membrane, overlap area of electrodes, number of comb fingers. Therefore, this structural design is more corresponding among the different types of accelerometer designs to optimize the sensitivity of the proposed accelerometer based on MEMS devices.