Micromachined accelerometer with no proof mass

Abstract

This paper describes a revolutionary micromachined accelerometer which is simple, reliable, and inexpensive to make. The operating principle of this accelerometer is based on free-convection heat transfer of a tiny hot air bubble in an enclosed chamber. An experimental device has demonstrated a 0.6 milli-g sensitivity which can theoretically be extended to sub-micro-g level.

A new thermal accelerometer based on pyroelectric thin films

“…Using asymptotic form, or the amplitude at -3dB we fInd a cut-off frequency equal to about 16 Hz. [5][6] have reported the same associated response time for their device, this confIrms that gas properties and package volume are critical parameters of sensors bandwidth.…”

Three-axis thermal accelerometer based on buckled cantilever microstructure

“…The detection principle of thermal accelerometers is based on the free convection heat transfer of a gas bubble inside a sealed chamber [2]. The accelerometer operates by measuring changes in temperature distribution around a heating element when the device is subjected to acceleration.…”

Micromachined convective accelerometers in standard integrated circuits technology

“…Since the sensors are convection-based, work is under way to characterize them in various gases, and under higher gas pressures, to achieve higher sensitivity. 5 We have reported on the configurations of convective accelerometers for numerous applications. The sensors were fabricated in low-cost CMOS technology with one additional maskless post-processing step.…”