An Electromagnetically Excited Silicon Nitride Beam Resonant Accelerometer

A resonant microbeam accelerometer of a novel highly symmetric structure based on MEMS bulk-silicon technology is proposed and some numerical modeling results for this scheme are presented. The accelerometer consists of two proof masses, four supporting hinges, two anchors, and a vibrating triple beam, which is clamped at both ends to the two proof masses. LPCVD silicon rich nitride is chosen as the resonant triple beam material, and parameter optimization of the triple-beam structure has been performed. The triple beam is excited and sensed electromagnetically by film electrodes located on the upper surface of the beam. Both simulation and experimental results show that the novel structure increases the scale factor of the resonant accelerometer, and ameliorates other performance issues such as cross axis sensitivity of insensitive input acceleration, etc.