A miniature, high-sensitivity, electron tunneling accelerometer

Micromachined Inertial Sensors: The State-of-the-Art and a Look into the Future

“…The two most commonly used ones are piezo-resistive and capacitive sensing. Alternatives are piezo-electric sensing 8 (mainly for high-frequency applications), tunnelling current sensing 9 (very sensitive but of increased complexity) and optical distinguish between open-and closedmethods1O. In this loop operation.…”

Transduction Mechanisms

“…This current is exponentially proportional to the distance between the structures, and therefore, can be employed as a very sensitive method of measuring the relative displacements of two objects [78][79][80][81]. This current is exponentially proportional to the distance between the structures, and therefore, can be employed as a very sensitive method of measuring the relative displacements of two objects [78][79][80][81].…”

Accelerometers

“…This high position sensitivity creates an opportunity for making accelerometers with much higher resolutions than other types of accelerometers. A bandwidth of 1 kHz was reported by using this approach (Rockstad et al 1996). At constant current mode, the feedback loop maintains the tunneling current constant by adjusting the gap between the tip and the sample surface.…”