Non linear response and optimization of a new z-axis resonant micro-accelerometer

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometers are micro-sized devices largely used for de- tecting accelerations in the consumer and automotive market. Both capacitive and resonant sensing have been successfully employed in these devices. In the present work, the focus is on a z-axis resonant accelerometer recently proposed in [1] and fabri- cated with the Thelma ©surface-micromachining technique developed by STMicroelectronics [2] . After a full non-linear dynamic study, two possible optimized designs are studied through an optimiza- tion procedure. The goal of the work is to find a novel design for the z-axis resonant accelerometer which meets the linearity and the reliability requirements for MEMS accelerometers whitout losses in terms of sensitivity.