Design and fabrication of a three-component force sensor using micromachining technology

This paper describes a design methodology of a tri-axial silicon-based force sensor with square membrane by using micromachining technology (MEMS). The sensor has a maximum force range of 5N and a minimum force range of 0.1 N in the three-axis directions. A simple beam theory was adopted to design the shape of the micro-force sensor. Also the optimal positions of piezoresistors were determined by the strain distribution obtained from the commercial finite element analysis program, ANSYS. The Wheatstone bridge circuits were designed to consider the sensitivity of the force sensor and its temperature compensation. Finally the process for microfabrication was designed using micromachining technology.