Design, fabrication and application of an SOI-based resonant electric field microsensor with coplanar comb-shaped electrodes

Abstract

This paper presents a highly sensitive resonant electric field microsensor based on silicon on insulator (SOI) technology. To improve the electric field coupling effect, the microsensor uses coplanar shutter electrodes and sense electrodes. To obtain higher conversion gain, both electrodes adopt novel comb-shaped structures. A finite element method (FEM) was used to simulate and optimize the structures of the comb-shaped electrodes. The sensitivity model of the microsensor was analyzed by the conversion gain of the vibration-amplitude-to-charge variation. The resolution of the microsensor is approximately 40 V m −1 with an uncertainty of 1% for the dc field, while the resolution is better than 10 V m −1 for the 50 Hz ac field. The microsensors were packaged and assembled to form an electric field probe to measure the atmospheric electric field. The test results showed that the probe precisely detected the occurrence of thunderstorms, and the plotted data agreed well with those of the conventional electric field mill.

Design, Fabrication and Characterization of a MEMS-Based Three-Dimensional Electric Field Sensor with Low Cross-Axis Coupling Interference

“…The 1D EFSC is based on charge induction to sense the external electric field. Yang [ 11 ] once presented the operational principle of the lateral EFSC in detail. When the movable shutter is laterally excited by push–pull comb drives, the shielding electrodes oscillate along axis of symmetry, covering the sidewalls of sensing electrodes periodically, as shown in Figure 1 b.…”

“…In the last two decades, with the rapid development of Micro-electro-mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, much literature on electric field sensor chips (EFSCs) has emerged, providing various EFSCs with the advantages of low power cost, small size, high integration, and convenience for batch production. These EFSCs can be classified into three categories according to their working principles, namely, induction charge [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ], electrostatic force [ 13 , 14 ], and steered-electrons [ 15 ]. These EFSCs focus on direct current (DC) and low-frequency alternating current (AC) electric field measurement.…”

Computation of capacitance and electrostatic forces for the electrostatically driving actuators considering fringe effects

“…Due to this geometric complexity, the electric field will be no longer uniform near the edges, and the field out of the space between two surfaces can not be neglected. In our previously fabricated SOI-MEMS based electric field sensor (Yang et al 2013), plate comb driving and sensing structures are adopted.…”

“…2 a Analytical model of the plate comb capacitor. b The electric field sensor with plate comb driving structures (Yang et al 2013) electrostatic force of the two sector combs considering fringe effects are…”

Single-chip 3D electric field microsensor

“…Consequently, sensors that can accurately detect and quantify electrostatic fields in natural and artificial environments are in demand. Various sensors that can measure electrostatic fields have been developed, and most of them can be classified into four categories, namely, double probes [6], field mills [1,7], optical sensors [8][9][10], and micromachined electric field sensors (MEFSs) [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Double probes and field mills are fabricated through traditional machining methods; as a result, they possess large volumes and complex structures and entail high power costs.…”