A Seismic-Grade Resonant MEMS Accelerometer

We report on the characterization of a high-resolution micromachined resonant accelerometer fabricated in an SoI-microelectromechanical (MEMS) foundry process. A prototype device demonstrated scale factor of 142.8 Hz/m/s
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, dynamic range of >140 dB, and noise-limited resolution that is comparable with existing high-resolution macroscale seismometers. Experimental characterisation detailing the benchmarking of the MEMS prototype relative to an existing macroscale seismometer shows that the MEMS device tracks the passive ambient seismic response measured by a macroscale seismometer (Guralp systems CMG-3TD) over a measurement bandwidth extending from near dc (0.02 Hz) up to 100 Hz.