3-Axis Accelerometer With Gap-Closing Capacitive Electrodes
First Claim
1. A sensing accelerometer, comprising:
- a substrate; and
a movable unit further comprising;
a movable element; and
plural components connected to the substrate and the movable element.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a novel three-axis capacitive-type accelerometer implemented on SOI wafer. The accelerometer consists of four springs, one proof mass, four pairs of gap-closing sensing electrodes (each pair of gap-closing sensing electrode containing one movable electrode and one stationary electrode), and several metal-vias as the electrical interconnections. The movable electrodes are on the proof mass, whereas the stationary electrodes are fixed to the substrate. The three-axis accelerometer has five merits. (1) The sensitivity of the accelerometer is improved since the proof-mass is increased by containing both device and handling silicon layers; (2) The sensitivity is also improved by the gap-closing differential capacitive sensing electrodes design; (3) The parasitic capacitance at bond pad is reduced by the existing of metal-vias between the device Si layer and handling Si layer; (4) The sensing gap thickness is precisely defined by the buried oxide of SOI wafer; (5) The stationary sensing electrodes anchored to the substrate also act as the limit stops to protect the accelerometer.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A sensing accelerometer, comprising:
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a substrate; and a movable unit further comprising; a movable element; and plural components connected to the substrate and the movable element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A multi-axes accelerometer, comprising:
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plural fixing element; and a movable element having plural components respectively connected to the plural fixing element; wherein the multi-axes accelerometer is a capacitive sensing accelerometer with a gap-closing differential electrode. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A multi-axes accelerometer, comprising:
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a movable element; and plural stationary electrode plates respectively configured to provide a moving limit of a Z-axis movement of the movable unit. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification