Characterization of an Asymmetrical Capacitive MEMS Tilt Sensor

This paper presents a uniaxial tilt sensor with the asymmetric differential capacitors for the unique tilt measurement, which has the advantages of low cross-sensitivity and low fabrication cost. The MEMS capacitive tilt sensor was designed, characterized and verified for high accuracy and reliability. The experiment results indicated the average sensitivity and bias instability of 5 fF/° and 0.0028° (at 0° position). The temperature drift of bias is 0.034 °/°C (above room temperature) and 0.146 °/°C (below room temperature). After calibration compensation, the temperature sensitivity drift can be stabilized to be only 15.8 ppm/°C. In addition, the practical performance has been validated by the prototype of the test board, which indicates the feasible application potential of the asymmetrical capacitive MEMS tilt sensor.