MONOLITHIC MICROMECHANICAL VIBRATING STRING ACCELEROMETER WITH TRIMMABLE RESONANT FREQUENCY

Assignee

CHARLES STARK DRAPER LABORATORY, INC., THE, 555 TECHNOLOGY SQUARE, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02139 A CORP. OF MA

Filed

Oct 17, 1990

Granted

Apr 18, 1995

Location

WAYLAND MA US

Abstract

A monolithic, micromechanical vibrating string accelerometer with a trimmable resonant frequency is fabricated from a silicon substrate which has been selectively etched to provide a resonant structure suspended over an etched pit. The resonant structure comprises an acceleration sensitive mass and at least two flexible elements having resonant frequencies. Each of the flexible elements is disposed generally colinear with at least one acceleration sensitive axis of the accelerometer. One end of at least one of the flexible elements is attached to a tension relief beam for providing stress relief of tensile forces created during the fabrication process. Mass support beams having a high aspect ratio support the mass over the etched pit while allowing the mass to move freely in the direction colinear with the flexible elements. Also disclosed is a method for fabricating such an accelerometer with high aspect ratio tension relief and mass support beams.

Source: Google Patents