Non-Linear Bulk Micromachined Accelerometer for High Sensitivity Applications

This work describes the design, modelling and realisation of the mechanical part of a non-linear MEMS accelerometer intended for large displacement behaviour. For this, a mass/spring system was designed with an extremely low resonance frequency. In this work the mechanical behaviour was verified by measurements done using an optical setup, including a laser and photodiode. The results are a resonance frequency of 12.6 Hz, which can be further tuned depending on the application by varying the mass, beam thickness and tilt of the structure. This results in a mechanical sensitivity of 0.16 [mm/ms
^-2
]. The future goal of this work is to integrate a read-out scheme on wafer level, for example electrostatically.