A piezoresistive micro-accelerometer with high frequency response and low transverse effect

With the purpose of measuring vibration signals in high-speed machinery, this paper developed a piezoresistive micro-accelerometer with multi-beam structure by combining four tiny sensing beams with four suspension beams. The eight-beam (EB) structure was designed to improve the trade-off between the sensitivity and the natural frequency of piezoresistive accelerometer. Besides, the piezoresistor configuration in the sensing beams reduces the cross interference from the undesirable direction significantly. The natural frequency of the structure and the stress on the sensing beams are theoretically calculated, and then verified through finite element method (FEM). The proposed sensor is fabricated on the n-type single crystal silicon wafer and packaged for experiment. The results demonstrate that the developed device possesses a suitable characteristic in sensitivity, natural frequency and transverse effect, which allows its usage in the measuring high frequency vibration signals.