Acceleration Sensors: Sensing Mechanisms, Emerging Fabrication Strategies, Materials, and Applications

Abstract

Accelerometers are among the most mature sensor technologies with a broad range of applications in multiple fields and industries. They represent the most widely used microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices with excellent and reliable performance. MEMS acceleration sensors established dominance mainly in navigation and control applications. In recent years, however, recent technologies and materials have emerged that introduce novel sensing mechanisms, improve performance, enable customization, reduce cost, and reduce fabrication complexity. Herein, the recent advances in accelerometers based on MEMS and recent emerging technologies are reviewed. This work provides a comprehensive review of accelerometers' sensing mechanisms and the main characteristics and features of each type of sensor, material, and fabrication strategies used to fabricate them. From the aspect of sensor application, this work focuses on reviewing applications that demonstrate the use of accelerometers manufactured using unconventional technologies and materials in prevailing fields such as healthcare monitoring, automotive industry, navigation, building, and structural monitoring. Moreover, challenges and future efforts needed to be addressed in this field are summarized.

“Saving Precious Seconds”—A Novel Approach to Implementing a Low-Cost Earthquake Early Warning System with Node-Level Detection and Alert Generation

“…Over the last ten years, advances in MEMS-based technologies have driven down the costs of ground motion sensors [26], while traditional seismic sensors cost tens of thousands of dollars [27]. Declining sensor costs and internet ubiquity are the main drivers of IoT technology [27,28].…”

Self-Powered Miniaturized Acceleration Sensor Based on Rationally Patterned Electrodes

“…ACCELERATION sensors play a critical role in various fields of industry and science, for example, automotive industry, healthcare monitoring, consumer electronics, and structural monitoring [1]- [4]. The commonly adopted mechanisms include capacitive [5]- [6], piezoresistive [7]- [8], and piezoelectric [9]- [10] mechanisms.…”

“…This work was supported by the National Key R & D Program of China under grant 2016YFA0202701. 1 Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, P. R. China 2 College of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China 3 CUSPEA Institute of Technology, Wenzhou, 325024, P. R. China 4 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA Corresponding authors: Zhiyi Wu (e-mail: wuzhiyi@binn.cas.cn), Zhonglin Wang (e-mail: zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu) voltage signals are too small to be detected, thus limiting the further enhancement of sensitivity. Therefore, a facile, optimized, and battery-free technology is highly desired.…”

Dynamic behavior of T-beam resonator with repulsive actuation

“…Capacitive sensing and actuation have been the most common methods of transduction in MEMS transducers for the past few decades [1][2][3]. This transduction scheme is popular because of its compatibility with microfabrication technology, low sensitivity to temperature change, and small power consumption [1][2][3]. The basic design of this kind of transducers has not changed significantly since their introduction in 1970s and 1980s [4].…”

“…Fig.2Repulsive force electrode configuration with T-beam (1), fixed center electrode (2), and fixed side electrodes(3) …”