Micromechanical sensor having a bandpass characteristic

• US 8,746,064 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2011
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fibercheck GmbH
• Original Assignee: Fibercheck GmbH
• Inventors: Dienel, Marco, Sorger, Alexander, Mehner, Jan
• Primary Examiner(s): Macchiarolo, Peter
• Assistant Examiner(s): MILLER, ROSE MARY
• Application Number:
  US13/217,639
• Publication Number:
  US 20120048022A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,020 Days
• Field of Search: 735/041.2, 735/041.4, 735/143.2, 736/49, 736/51
• US Class Current: 73/504.12
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 13/00 Measuring resonant frequency

Abstract

The invention relates to a micromechanical sensor having at least two spring-mass damper oscillators. The micromechanical sensor has a first spring-mass-damper oscillating system with a first resonant frequency and a second spring-mass-damper oscillating system with a second resonant frequency which is lower than the first resonant frequency. The invention also relates to a method for detection and/or measurement of oscillations by means of a sensor such as this, and to a method for production of a micromechanical sensor such as this. The first and the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems have electrodes which oscillate in a measurement direction about electrode rest positions with electrode deflections which are equal to or proportional to deflections of the spring-mass-damper oscillators. The systems are coupled to one another by means of at least one electrostatic field, which acts on the electrodes, forming at least one capacitance with the capacitance being governed by at least one electrode area and by at least one electrode separation and/or an electrode coverage.

Claims

1. A micromechanical sensor having at least two spring-mass-damper oscillators which can be excited by a common external oscillation, with the micromechanical sensor having a first spring-mass-damper oscillating system with a first resonant frequency and a second spring-mass-damper oscillating system with a second resonant frequency which is lower than the first resonant frequency, wherein the first and the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems are designed such that they oscillate in-phase in a frequency range below the second resonant frequency;

wherein the first and the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems have electrodes which oscillate in a measurement direction about electrode rest positions with electrode deflections which are equal to or proportional to deflections of the spring-mass-damper oscillators;

wherein the first and the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems are coupled to one another by means of at least one electrostatic field, which acts on the electrodes, forming at least one capacitance with the capacitance being governed by at least one electrode area and by at least one electrode separation and/or an electrode coverage, with the electrode deflections influencing the electrode separation and/or the electrode coverage and thus influencing the magnitude of the capacitance, and with the influences of the first and second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems on the magnitude of the capacitance being compensated for in the case of an in-phase oscillation.

2. The micromechanical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the micromechanical sensor has a fixed-position comb electrode with fixed-position comb structures, wherein the first and the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems have moving comb structures which engage in the fixed-position comb structures, with the moving comb structures of the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system being arranged on a second side of the fixed-position comb structures, and with the moving comb structures of the second spring-mass-damper oscillating system being arranged on a first side of the fixed-position comb structures, and with all the moving comb structures being electrically conductively connected to one another.

3. The micromechanical sensor as claimed in claim 2, wherein the micromechanical sensor has the fixed-position comb electrode with fixed-position comb structures and a further fixed-position comb electrode with further fixed-position comb structures, wherein the moving comb structures of the first and of the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems engage between the fixed-position comb structures and the further fixed-position comb structures, with the moving comb structures of the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system being arranged on the second side of the fixed-position comb structures and on a first side of the further fixed-position comb structures and with the moving comb structures of the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems being arranged on the first side of the fixed-position comb structures and on the second side of the further fixed-position comb structures, and with all the moving comb structures being electrically conductively connected to one another.

4. The micromechanical sensor as claimed in claim 2, wherein the micromechanical sensor has a first fixed-position comb electrode with first fixed-position comb structures and a second fixed-position comb electrode with second fixed-position comb structures, between which the first and the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems are arranged, with first moving comb structures of the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system being arranged on the second side of the first fixed-position comb structures, with second moving comb structures of the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system being arranged on a first side of the second fixed-position comb structures, with first moving comb structures of the second spring-mass-damper oscillating system being arranged on the first side of the first fixed-position comb structures, and with second moving comb structures of the second spring-mass-damper oscillating system being arranged on the second side of the second fixed-position comb structures.

5. The micromechanical sensor as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system has a greater number of fixed-position and moving comb structures than the second spring-mass-damper oscillating system.

6. The micromechanical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system has at least two spring-mass-damper oscillators.

7. The micromechanical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in the case of the micromechanical sensor, one of the spring-mass-damper oscillating systems has a mechanical coupling element and an electrostatic coupling electrode, with the mechanical coupling element being designed for stepping down or stepping up the oscillation amplitude of one spring-mass-damper oscillator in this spring-mass-damper oscillating system to a lower or higher oscillation amplitude of the electrostatic coupling electrode, and with the oscillation amplitude of the other spring-mass-damper oscillating system and of the electrostatic coupling electrode being of equal magnitude in the case of an in-phase oscillation.

8. The micromechanical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in the case of the micromechanical sensor, at least one spring-mass-damper oscillator in the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system oscillates in a measurement direction on an oscillation plane, and wherein the second spring-mass-damper oscillating system has at least one spring-mass-damper oscillator which is rotated to a rotation angle with respect to the measurement direction on the oscillation plane, with the rotated spring-mass-damper oscillator having comb structures, which are parallel to the comb structures of the first spring-mass-damper oscillator, and a guide which allows it to oscillate in an oblique direction which is governed by the rotation angle, with the oscillation amplitude of the rotated spring-mass-damper oscillator in the case of an in-phase oscillation having a vector component in the measurement direction which is of equal magnitude to the oscillation amplitude of the spring-mass-damper oscillator in the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system.

9. The micromechanical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the micromechanical sensor has the characteristics of being produced by one of a surface-silicon technology, a silicon technology close to the surface, a silicon volume technology, an LIGA technology or a multi-component microscopic injection-molding method.

10. A method for detection and/or measurement of oscillations by means of a micromechanical sensor with at least two spring-mass-damper oscillators which are excited by a common external oscillation, with the micromechanical sensor having a first damped spring-mass-damper oscillating system with a first resonant frequency and a second damped spring-mass-damper oscillating system with a second resonant frequency, which is lower than the first resonant frequency, the method comprising:

oscillating the first and the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems in-phase in a frequency range below the second resonant frequency;

oscillating electrodes of the first and the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems in a measurement direction about electrode rest positions with electrode deflections which are equal to or proportional to deflections of the spring-mass-damper oscillators;

coupling the first and the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems to one another by means of at least one electrostatic field, which acts on the electrodes, forming at least one capacitance governed by at least one electrode area, by at least one electrode coverage and/or by at least one electrode separation, with the electrode deflections influencing the electrode separation and/or the electrode coverage and thus influencing a magnitude of the capacitance, and compensating the influence of the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system on the magnitude of the capacitance by the second spring-mass-damper oscillating system in the case of a synchronous oscillation, and using the magnitude of the capacitance as a sensor output variable.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

providing the micromechanical sensor with a fixed-position comb electrode having fixed-position comb structures, providing the first and the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems with moving comb structures which engage in the fixed-position comb structures, arranging the fixed-position and the moving comb structures with respect to one another resulting in, in the case of an in-phase oscillation, at the same time as an increase in the electrode separation and/or a reduction in the electrode coverage of the moving comb structures of the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system by and/or with the fixed-position comb structures, in a reduction in the electrode separation and/or an increase in the electrode coverage of the moving comb structures of the second spring-mass-damper oscillating system by and/or with the fixed-position comb structures, and electrically conductively connecting the moving comb structures being to one another.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the micromechanical sensor has the fixed-position comb electrode with fixed-position comb structures and a further fixed-position electrostatic comb electrode with further fixed-position comb structures, wherein the moving comb structures of the first and of the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems engage between the fixed-position comb structures and the further fixed-position comb structures, further comprising:

arranging the fixed-position and moving comb structures with respect to one another and arranging the moving comb structures centrally between the fixed-position comb structures and the further fixed-position comb structures resulting, in the case of an in-phase oscillation, at the same time as an increase in the electrode separation and/or a reduction in the electrode coverage of the moving comb structures of the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system by and/or with the fixed-position comb structures and as a reduction in the electrode separation and/or an increase in the electrode coverage of the moving comb structures of the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system by and/or with the further fixed-position comb structures, in a reduction in the electrode separation and/or an increase in the electrode coverage of the moving comb structures of the second spring-mass-damper oscillating system by and/or with the fixed-position comb structures, and an increase in the electrode separation and/or a reduction in the electrode coverage of the moving comb structures of the second spring-mass-damper oscillating system by and/or with the further fixed-position comb structures, and electrically conductively connecting the moving comb structures to one another.

13. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the micromechanical sensor has a first fixed-position comb electrode with first fixed-position comb structures and a second fixed-position comb electrode with second fixed-position comb structures, wherein the first and the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems have first and second moving comb structures, with the first moving comb structures engaging in the first fixed-position comb structures, and with the second moving comb structures engaging in the second fixed-position comb structures, further comprising:

arranging the first and second moving comb structures and of the first and second fixed-position comb structures with respect to one another resulting, in the case of an in-phase oscillation, at the same time as an increase in the electrode separation and/or a reduction in the electrode coverage of the first moving comb structures of the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system by and/or with the first fixed-position comb structures, in a reduction in the electrode separation and/or an increase in the electrode coverage of the first moving comb structures of the second spring-mass-damper oscillating system by and/or with the first fixed-position comb structures, a reduction in the electrode separation and/or an increase in the electrode coverage of the second moving comb structures in the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system by and/or with the second fixed-position comb structures, and an increase in the electrode separation and/or a reduction in the electrode coverage of the second moving comb structures of the second spring-mass-damper oscillating system by the second fixed-position comb structures, and electrically conductively connecting all the moving comb structures to one another.

14. The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

providing at least one of the spring-mass-damper oscillating systems in the micromechanical sensor with a mechanical coupling element and an electrostatic coupling electrode, stepping down or stepping up the oscillation amplitude of the spring-mass-damper oscillator in the spring-mass-damper oscillating system in the micromechanical sensor with the mechanical coupling element to a lower or higher oscillation amplitude of the electrostatic coupling electrode, and oscillating the electrode in the other spring-mass-damper oscillating system and the electrostatic coupling electrode with respect to one another during an in-phase oscillation of the first and second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems with a constant electrode separation and constant electrode coverage.

15. The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

oscillating at least one spring-mass-damper oscillator in the first spring-mass-damper oscillating system in the micromechanical sensor in a measurement direction on an oscillation plane and oscillating at least one spring-mass-damper oscillator of the second spring-mass-damper oscillating system in the micromechanical sensor on the oscillation plane in an oblique direction, which is rotated at a rotation angle with respect to the measurement direction, with the rotated spring-mass-damper oscillator having comb electrodes which are parallel to the comb structures in the first spring-mass-damper oscillator, and a guide which allows it to oscillate in an oblique direction which is governed by the rotation angle, and oscillating the comb electrodes in the first and the second spring-mass-damper oscillating systems with a constant electrode separation and constant electrode coverage during an in-phase oscillation.