Accelerometers are increasingly gaining in importance in the consumer electronics sector. To estimate whether field-effect based accelerometers have an advantage over sensor types common today, we analyze their scaling performance in this paper. Within the scope of this research, firstly we create an analytical model and subsequently verify it by numerical simulation. Based thereon, a numerical-analytical study of the scaling performance follows. The requirements are based on a commercially available capacitive accelerometer. We identify the main miniaturization limits of field-effect based accelerometers, which are total noise and pull-in effect. Those limits lead to a total area estimation for a triaxial MEMS accelerometer core of only 410 lm 9 300 lm.
We introduce a novel high temperature PECVD process and use it for the deposition of silicon carbide thin films on oxidized silicon wafers at 900°C substrate temperature. A variation of the atomic composition over a wide range is achieved by altering the flow ratio of the precursors silane (SiH4) and acetylene (C2H2). XPS analysis is performed to verify the silicon to carbon ratio in the deposited layers. The resistivity of the obtained thin films shows a strong dependence on the Si/C-ratio. Four point measurements show the resistivity ranging between 5•10-3Ωcm for C-rich layers and >107Ωcm for near stoichiometric layers. We investigate the piezoresistivity of the SiC layers at room temperature under compressive and tensile strain using the four point bending method. The same method is used to analyze selected layers at elevated temperatures up to 600°C. Based on the results we evaluate the applicability of the obtained thin films for strain transducing in harsh environment MEMS sensors.
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