Acceleration sensor and manufacturing method for the same

• US 20030209075A1
• Filed: 04/21/2003
• Published: 11/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wacoh Company
• Original Assignee: Wacoh Company
• Inventors: Okada, Kazuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 6,772,632 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/514.16
• CPC Class Codes: B81B 2201/0235 Accelerometers
• CPC Class Codes: B81B 2201/0242 Gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: B81B 2203/053 Translation according to an axis perpendicular to the substrate
• CPC Class Codes: B81B 2203/055 Translation in a plane parallel to the substrate, i.e. enabling movement along any direction in the plane
• CPC Class Codes: B81B 2203/056 Rotation in a plane parallel to the substrate
• CPC Class Codes: B81B 2203/058 Rotation out of a plane parallel to the substrate
• CPC Class Codes: B81B 3/0062 Devices moving in two or more dimensions, i.e. having special features which allow movement in more than one dimension
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/08 with conversion into electric or magnetic values
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/0802 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/123 by piezo-resistive elements, e.g. semiconductor strain gauges
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/125 by capacitive pick-up
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 2015/084 the mass being suspended at more than one of its sides, e.g. membrane-type suspension, so as to permit multi-axis movement of the mass
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 2015/0842 the mass being of clover leaf shape
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 2015/0871 using stopper structures for limiting the travel of the seismic mass

Abstract

The present invention easily achieves an accurate control structure for limiting displacement of a weight. An SOI substrate with a trilaminar structure including a silicon layer, a silicon oxide layer, and a silicon layer is prepared, and slits are opened by applying induced coupling plasma etching which can selectively remove only silicon from the upper side. Then, the same etching is applied from the lower side to form grooves, whereby the lower silicon layer is separated into a weight and a pedestal. Next, the structure is immersed in an etchant which can selectively remove only silicon oxide, whereby the vicinities of exposed portions of the silicon oxide layer are removed to form joint layers. A glass substrate is joined to the bottom surface of the pedestal. Piezo resistor elements are formed on the upper surface of the silicon layer to detect bending. The degree of freedom of upward displacements of the weight is accurately set based on the thickness of the joint layer.

Claims

1. An acceleration sensor comprising:

a substrate layer having a displacing section provided at a central portion, a fixed section provided around said displacing section, and a connecting portion for connecting said displacing section to said fixed section so that said displacing section can displace;

a weight disposed under said substrate layer, said weight including an upper surface peripheral portion that opposes a control surface formed on a lower surface of an inner part of said fixed section;

a pedestal which is disposed so as to surround said weight and supports and fixes said fixed section from below;

a weight joint layer which is interposed in a region other than said upper surface peripheral portion in a space between said weight and said substrate layer and is made of a material different from that of said weight and said substrate layer, and connects said weight to a lower surface of said displacing section; and

a displacement detector for detecting a displacement of said displacing section;

wherein

when an acceleration is applied to said weight, said displacing section displaces with respect to said fixed section due to bending of said connecting portion, and a thickness of said weight joint layer is set so that said upper surface peripheral portion comes into contact with said control surface to control displacement when a degree of a predetermined directional component of an applied acceleration exceeds a predetermined tolerance.

2. The acceleration sensor according to claim 1, wherein:

a pedestal joint layer made of the same material as that of the weight joint layer is provided between the pedestal and the fixed section, and said pedestal and said fixed section are joined together by said pedestal joint layer.

3. The acceleration sensor according to claim 2, wherein:

a material for forming the substrate layer, the pedestal, and the weight and a material for forming the weight joint layer and the pedestal joint layer are different in etching property from each other.

4. The acceleration sensor according to any of claims 1 through 3, wherein a slit is formed in the substrate layer so that portions of the substrate layer serve as a displacing section, a fixed section, and a connecting portion.

5. The acceleration sensor according to claim 4, wherein:

a plurality of slits that have an annular shape partially including an aperture are formed so that apertures face a center of the substrate layer; and

a structure with a fan shape including blade portions surrounded by the respective annular slits is regarded as a displacing section, a portion formed between a pair of slits adjacent to each other is regarded as a connecting portion, and an outer peripheral portion of the substrate layer positioned more outwardly than an outer envelope of the plurality of slits is regarded as a fixed section.

6. The acceleration sensor according to claim 5, wherein:

four slits which are formed along contours of approximate squares and have the same annular shape including an aperture at a portion corresponding to one apex of a square are symmetrically formed on the substrate layer that is approximate square.

7. The acceleration sensor according to claim 5 or 6, wherein:

a contour of an upper surface of the weight has a shape which is obtained by outwardly expanding a contour of the displacing section so that displacement of the upper surface peripheral portion of the weight is controlled by the control surface in a region outside and close to an outer envelope of the plurality of slits on a lower surface of the substrate layer.

8. The acceleration sensor according to claim 7, wherein:

the weight joint layer includes a central portion joint layer for joining the displacing section and the weight at a central portion of the fan shape and blade portion joint layers for joining the displacing section and the weight at respective blade portions of the fan shape.

9. The acceleration sensor according to any of claims 1 through 8, wherein:

a distance between a side surface of the weight and an inner surface of the pedestal is set so that displacement of the weight is controlled by contact of said side surface of the weight with said inner surface of the pedestal when a degree of a predetermined directional component of an applied acceleration exceeds a predetermined tolerance.

10. The acceleration sensor according to any of claims 1 through 9, wherein:

a thickness of the weight is set so that a bottom surface of the weight is located above a bottom surface of the pedestal with a predetermined distance, and when the pedestal is fixed on a control substrate, said predetermined distance is secured between the bottom surface of the weight and the upper surface of said control substrate; and

said predetermined distance is set so that displacement of the weight is controlled by contact of the bottom surface of the weight with the upper surface of the control substrate when a degree of a predetermined directional component of an applied acceleration exceeds a predetermined tolerance.

11. The acceleration sensor according to any of claims 1 through 10, wherein:

the displacement detector includes piezo resistor elements disposed on the connecting portion and a detecting circuit for detecting electric resistance changes of said piezo resistor elements.

12. The acceleration sensor according to claim 11, wherein:

a left connecting portion is provided at a left of the displacing section and a right connecting portion is provided at a right of the displacing section, two piezo resistor elements are disposed on said left connecting portion and two piezo resistor elements are disposed on said right connecting portion so that a total of four piezo resistor elements are aligned roughly in line, and the detecting circuit includes bridges using said four piezo resistor elements.

13. The acceleration sensor according to any of claims 1 through 10, wherein:

the displacement detector includes an auxiliary substrate disposed at a predetermined distance above the substrate layer, a displacing electrode formed on an upper surface of the displacing section, a fixed electrode formed on a lower surface of said auxiliary substrate, and a detecting circuit for detecting changes in capacitance of a capacitor element formed by said displacing electrode and said fixed electrode.

14. The acceleration sensor according to claim 13, wherein at least an upper surface region opposing the fixed electrode, of the displacing section has conductivity, and said displacing section itself is used as a displacing electrode.

15. A manufacturing method for the acceleration sensor set forth in claim 2, comprising:

a preparation step for preparing a material substrate including laminated three layers of a first layer, a second layer, and a third layer in order from the upper side;

a substrate layer forming step for forming a substrate layer including a displacing section, a fixed section, and a connecting portion by forming a slit in said first layer by etching predetermined regions of said first layer in a thickness direction until an upper surface of said second layer is exposed according to an etching method that has erodibility for said first layer and does not have erodibility for said second layer;

a weight/pedestal separating step for separating said third layer into a weight and a pedestal by etching predetermined regions of said third layer in a thickness direction until a lower surface of said second layer is exposed according to an etching method that has erodibility for said third layer and does not have erodibility for said second layer; and

a joint layer forming step for forming a weight joint layer and a pedestal joint layer by remaining portions after etching said second layer in a thickness direction and a layer surface direction from exposed portions of said second layer according to an etching method that has erodibility for said second layer and does not have erodibility for said first and third layers.

16. The manufacturing method for the acceleration sensor according to claim 15, wherein:

in the substrate layer forming step, a plurality of slits that have an annular shape partially including an aperture are formed so that the aperture faces a center of the first layer; and

a displacing section is formed by a structure having a fan shape that includes blade portions surrounded by the respective annular slits, a portion between a pair of slits adjacent to each other is formed as a connecting portion, and a fixed section is formed of an outer peripheral portion of the first layer positioned more outwardly than an outer envelope of the plurality of slits.

17. The manufacturing method for the acceleration sensor according to claim 16, wherein:

in the weight/pedestal separating step, etching for separating a weight and a pedestal is carried out at a position more outward than the outer envelope of the plurality of slits, so that a weight having a contour expanding more outwardly than a contour of the displacing section is formed, and displacement of the upper surface peripheral portion of the weight can be controlled by a control surface formed in a region outside and close to said outer envelope on a lower surface of the first layer.

18. The manufacturing method for the acceleration sensor according to any of claims 15 through 17, further comprising:

a thickness adjusting step for making a thickness of the weight smaller than a thickness of the pedestal by removing a lower layer portion of a region where the weight is formed of the third layer by etching; and

a control substrate joining step for joining a control substrate to a bottom surface of the pedestal.

19. The manufacturing method for the acceleration sensor according to any of claims 15 through 18, wherein:

the first layer and the third layer are made of the same material.

20. The manufacturing method for the acceleration sensor according to claim 19, wherein:

the first layer and the third layer are made of silicon, and the second layer is made of silicon oxide.

21. The manufacturing method for the acceleration sensor according to any of claims 15 through 20, wherein:

an induced coupling plasma etching method is used for etching in the thickness direction in the substrate layer forming step and the weight/pedestal separating step.