Mechanical Transducers

Accelerometers
Prepared bu
V.M.Kulkarni,
M.I.T Aurangabad
 SILICON CAPACITIVE ACCELEROMETER:Overview

• An accelerometer measures the acceleration of a body on which it is

mounted.
• It becomes a tilt sensor if it measures gravitational acceleration.
• Almost all types of accelerometers have a basic structure consisting
of an inertial mass (also called a proof mass or a seismic mass ), a
suspension, and a transducing mechanism to convert the acceleration
signal to an electrical signal.
• In a capacitive accelerometer, the sensing method is capacitive in
that any change in acceleration results in a change of capacitance
that is measured electronically.
• One of the first micromachined accelerometers was reported in 1979
by Roylance and Angell at Stanford University.
• It used piezoresistive transduction and weighed less than 0.02 g in a
230.6mm3 package. It took over 15 years for such devices to be
accepted as a product for large-volume applications.
 Overview conti….
• A wide variety of micromachined capacitive accelerometers is
commercially available today.
• Some of the manufacturers of this type of accelerometer are Analog
Devices, Honeywell, Texas Instruments, Endevco Corporation, PCB
Piezotronics, Freescale Semiconductors, Crossbow, Delphi, Motorola,
etc.
• Some of these are sold for less than 500 and some of them cost more
than 50,000.
• This is because of the variation in performance and the applications.
• Low-cost accelerometers are used in consumer applications.
Advantages of Silicon Capacitive Accelerometers
• Silicon capacitive accelerometers have:
1. Very low sensitivity to temperature-induced drift.
2. Higher output levels than other types.
3. Amenability for force-balancing and hence for closed-loop
operation.
4. High linearity.
 Typical Applications

• Typical applications of silicon capacitive

accelerometers include:
1. Consumer: airbag deployment systems in cars,
active suspensions, adaptive brakes, alarm
systems, shipping recorders, home appliances,
mobile phone, toys, etc.
2. Industrial: crash-testing robotics, machine
control, vibration monitoring, etc.
3. High-end applications: military/space/aircraft
industry navigation and inertial guidance, impact
detection, tilt measurement, high-shock
environments, cardiac pacemaker, etc.
Materials Used :

• The materials used to form these devices include:

1. Single-crystal silicon to form the physical structure.
2. Silicon dioxide sandwiched in a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer
gives electrical isolation.
3. Handle-layer of the SOI wafer is the substrate.
4. Gold for electrodes.

Fabrication Process :
This is a bulk micromachining. In general, almost any microfabrication process can
be used to make an accelerometer.
 Key Definitions
• The important terms used and their definitions are:
1.Proof mass: the inertial mass used in the accelerometer whose displacement
relative to a rigid frame is a measure of the influence of external acceleration.
2. Suspension: the compliant structure by which the proof mass is suspended from
the frame.
3.Capacitance: the capacity of a body to hold an electrical charge. Capacitance is
also a measure of the amount of electric charge stored for a given electric potential.
For a two-plate capacitor, if the charges on the plates are +q and -q and V is the
voltage between the plates, then the capacitance is given by C = q/V. The
international standard (SI) unit of capacitance is the farad (1 farad = 1
coulomb/volt).
4.Parallel-plate capacitor: a pair of parallel plates separated by a dielectric
(nonconducting substance) medium.
5.Differential capacitance arrangement: in this arrangement, there are three plates
with a movable middle plate. As the plate moves, the capacitance between one of
the pairs will increase while that of the other decreases. This gives a signal that is
linearly proportional to the applied acceleration, and hence is the preferred
configuration.
6.Quality factor: a system’s quality factor, Q, describes the sharpness of the system’s
dynamic response.
 Principle of Operation
• An accelerometer can be thought of as a mass suspended by a spring.
• When there is acceleration, there will be a force on the mass.
• The mass moves, and this movement is determined by the spring constant
of the suspension.
• By measuring the displacement, we can get an estimate of the acceleration
(Figure).
• A capacitor may be formed with two plates of which one is fixed while the
other moves
• A capacitor may be formed with two plates of which one is fixed while the
other moves [Figures (a), (b)].
• In another arrangement, the mass can move in between two plates [Figure
(c)]. In all three, the capacitance changes according to the motion caused by
acceleration
 Accelerometers
Static deformation:
F Ma
Spring Damping d static  
F=kx F=Dv k k

M Inertial mass
F=Ma Dynamic behavior

d 2x dx
M 2  D  kx  Fext  Ma
•When the spring mass system is subjected to linear dt dt
acceleration,a force equal to mass times acceleration
k Resonance frequency
acts on the proof mass, causing it to deflect.
•This deflection is sensed by a suitable means and
r 
M
converted into an equivalent electrical signal.
 r M Quality factor
• Some form of damping is required, otherwise the Q
system would not stabilize quickly under applied D
acceleration.
 Accelerometers
Accelerometer parameters
• acceleration range (G) (1G=9.81 m/s2)
• sensitivity (V/G)
• resolution (G)
• bandwidth (Hz)
• cross axis sensitivity

Application Range Bandwidth Comment

Air Bag Deployment ± 50 G ~ 1 kHz
Engine vibration ±1G > 10 kHz resolve small accelerations (< 1 micro G)
Cardiac Pacemaker control ±2G < 50 Hz multiaxis, ultra-low power consumption
 Capacitive Accelerometers
Anchor to substrate

Spring Displacement Inertial Mass

Stationary Polysilicon fingers

Based on ADXL accelerometers, Analog Devices, Inc.

 An Example Prototype
• Figure (a) shows a photograph of a
packaged, two-axis, planar,
micromachined capacitive
accelerometer with the mechanical
sensor element and two Application
Specific Integrated Circuit Chips
(ASICs).
• Figure (b) shows a close-up view of
the sensor element and
• Figure (c) shows its schematic
details.
• This device is one of the many
accelerometers developed in research
laboratories in academia and
industry and has the same features
that can be found in any capacitive
accelerometer.
• The physical arrangement and shapes
of components differ among the
different types. Materials and
fabrication processes used may also
be different.