Circular piezoelectric accelerometer for high band width application

Abstract

An uniaxial bulk-micromachined piezoelectric MEMS accelerometer intended for high bandwidth application is fabricated and characterized. A circular seismic mass (radius = 1200 ¿m) is suspended by a 20 ¿m thick annular silicon membrane (radius = 1800 ¿m). A 24 ¿m PZT screen printed thick film is used as the sensing material on top of the silicon membrane. Accelerations in the out of plane direction induce a force on the seismic mass bending the membrane and a potential difference is measured in the out of plane direction of the stressed PZT. A resonance frequency of 23.50 kHz, a charge sensitivity of 0.23 pC/g and a voltage sensitivity of 0.24 mV/g are measured.