A high sensitivity piezoelectric MEMS accelerometer based on aerosol deposition method

Gong, Xuewen; Chen, Chao-Ting; Wu, Wen-Jong; Liao, Wei-Hsin

doi:10.1117/12.2514224

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our previous PVDF-based accelerometer had a sensitivity of 21.82 pC/g. Although this flat-band sensitivity was comparable to those of several recent PZT-based accelerometers 15,16 , our previous polymeric piezoelectric accelerometers only have a limited bandwidth of 58.5 Hz.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…Piezoelectric accelerometers provide unique advantages in vibration sensing, such as fast response and broad input range 12,13 . The amount of charge generated by piezoelectric coupling is proportional to the area integral of the product between the reaction stress and the piezoelectric coupling coefficient 14 ; therefore, existing piezoelectric accelerometers typically utilize cantilever-based structures and lead zirconate titanate (PZT) [15][16][17] for high performance to play crucial roles in automotive systems 18 , consumer electronics 19 , image stabilization 20 , implantable hearing aid devices 21,22 , and vibration monitoring for apparatuses. In emerging organic electronics and polymeric wearable microsystems, as indicated by existing studies 23,24 , polymeric piezoelectric accelerometers can serve as wearable vibration collectors in many critical applications; these include vocal assistance systems for those with speaking difficulties, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) victims.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Polymeric piezoelectric accelerometers with high sensitivity, broad bandwidth, and low noise density for organic electronics and wearable microsystems

Ge,

Cretu

2024

Microsyst Nanoeng

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Piezoelectric accelerometers excel in vibration sensing. In the emerging trend of fully organic electronic microsystems, polymeric piezoelectric accelerometers can be used as vital front-end components to capture dynamic signals, such as vocal vibrations in wearable speaking assistants for those with speaking difficulties. However, high-performance polymeric piezoelectric accelerometers suitable for such applications are rare. Piezoelectric organic compounds such as PVDF have inferior properties to their inorganic counterparts such as PZT. Consequently, most existing polymeric piezoelectric accelerometers have very unbalanced performance metrics. They often sacrifice resonance frequency and bandwidth for a flat-band sensitivity comparable to those of PZT-based accelerometers, leading to increased noise density and limited application potentials. In this study, a new polymeric piezoelectric accelerometer design to overcome the material limitations of PVDF is introduced. This new design aims to simultaneously achieve high sensitivity, broad bandwidth, and low noise. Five samples were manufactured and characterized, demonstrating an average sensitivity of 29.45 pC/g within a ± 10 g input range, a 5% flat band of 160 Hz, and an in-band noise density of 1.4 µg/$$\sqrt{{Hz}}$$ Hz . These results surpass those of many PZT-based piezoelectric accelerometers, showing the feasibility of achieving comprehensively high performance in polymeric piezoelectric accelerometers to increase their potential in novel applications such as organic microsystems.

show abstract

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polymeric piezoelectric accelerometers with high sensitivity, broad bandwidth, and low noise density for organic electronics and wearable microsystems

Ge,

Cretu

2024

Microsyst Nanoeng

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Beam thickness reduction can be achieved by adjusting the thickness of the substrate while keeping that of the piezoelectric film constant, e.g., changing the thickness of stainless steel from 100 to 30 μm. Proof mass adjustment was demonstrated in our previous work 27 , where the simulated noise of the structure with a larger proof mass (Structure 3) is around 3.2 μg= ffiffiffiffiffiffi Hz p at 20 Hz. Through Table 5, we could also observe that some capacitive MEMS accelerometers with a sub-μg= ffiffiffiffiffiffi Hz p noise floor have already been commercialized, such as SI1003 (0.7 μg= ffiffiffiffiffiffi Hz p…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…This is where the aerosol deposition method plays a role. The method was applied in our previous study to fabricate accelerometers 27 . It is a process of forming a dense, uniform and hard ceramic layer in tens μm at room temperature when sub-micron ceramics particles are accelerated and impacted on a substrate by gas flow 28 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An aerosol deposition based MEMS piezoelectric accelerometer for low noise measurement

et al. 2023

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Potentially applied in low-noise applications such as structural health monitoring (SHM), a 1-axis piezoelectric MEMS accelerometer based on aerosol deposition is designed, fabricated, simulated, and measured in this study. It is a cantilever beam structure with a tip proof mass and PZT sensing layer. To figure out whether the design is suitable for SHM, working bandwidth and noise level are obtained via simulation. For the first time, we use aerosol deposition method to deposit thick PZT film during the fabrication process to achieve high sensitivity. In performance measurement, we obtain the charge sensitivity, natural frequency, working bandwidth and noise equivalent acceleration of 22.74 pC/g, 867.4 Hz, 10–200 Hz (within ±5% deviation) and 5.6 $$\mu {{{\rm{g}}}}/\sqrt{{{{\rm{Hz}}}}}$$ μ g / Hz (at 20 Hz). To demonstrate its feasibility for real applications, vibrations of a fan are measured by our designed sensor and a commercial piezoelectric accelerometer, and the results match well with each other. Moreover, shaker vibration measurement with ADXL1001 indicates that the fabricated sensor has a much lower noise level. In the end, we show that our designed accelerometer has good performance compared to piezoelectric MEMS accelerometers in relevant studies and great potential for low-noise applications compared to low-noise capacitive MEMS accelerometers.

show abstract

“…Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) accelerometers detect mechanical acceleration through alterations in electrical capacitance (capacitive), resistance (piezoresistive), or charge (piezoelectric) as occurs within miniaturized structures. They rank second in usage among MEMS devices, with only pressure sensors being more commonly used 1 . While traditionally used for vibration monitoring 2 , automotive testing 2,3 , and inertial navigation 3,4 , recent research highlights the potential of MEMS accelerometers in health monitoring devices and implantable hearing aids [4][5][6][7] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A polymeric piezoelectric MEMS accelerometer with high sensitivity, low noise density, and an innovative manufacturing approach

Ge,

Cretu

2023

Microsyst Nanoeng

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The piezoelectric coupling principle is widely used (along with capacitive coupling and piezoresistive coupling) for MEMS accelerometers. Piezoelectric MEMS accelerometers are used primarily for vibration monitoring. Polymer piezoelectric MEMS accelerometers offer the merits of heavy-metal-free structure material and simple microfabrication flow. More importantly, polymeric piezoelectric MEMS accelerometers may be the basis of novel applications, such as fully organic inertial sensing microsystems using polymer sensors and organic integrated circuits. This paper presents a novel polymer piezoelectric MEMS accelerometer design using PVDF films. A simple and rapid microfabrication flow based on laser micromachining of thin films and 3D stereolithography was developed to fabricate three samples of this design. During proof-of-concept experiments, the design achieved a sensitivity of 21.82 pC/g (equivalent open-circuit voltage sensitivity: 126.32 mV/g), a 5% flat band of 58.5 Hz, and a noise density of 6.02 µg/√Hz. Thus, this design rivals state-of-the-art PZT-based counterparts in charge sensitivity and noise density, and it surpasses the performance capabilities of several commercial MEMS accelerometers. Moreover, this design has a 10-times smaller device area and a 4-times larger flat band than previous state-of-the-art organic piezoelectric MEMS accelerometers. These experimentally validated performance metrics demonstrate the promising application potential of the polymeric piezoelectric MEMS accelerometer design presented in this article.

show abstract

A high sensitivity piezoelectric MEMS accelerometer based on aerosol deposition method

Cited by 6 publications

References 16 publications

Polymeric piezoelectric accelerometers with high sensitivity, broad bandwidth, and low noise density for organic electronics and wearable microsystems

Polymeric piezoelectric accelerometers with high sensitivity, broad bandwidth, and low noise density for organic electronics and wearable microsystems

An aerosol deposition based MEMS piezoelectric accelerometer for low noise measurement

A polymeric piezoelectric MEMS accelerometer with high sensitivity, low noise density, and an innovative manufacturing approach

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About