Constrained Optimum Design of 3-DOF Microaccelerometers

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a technique to optimize with constraints, the performance of three degrees of freedom silicon accelerometers. A flexure configuration has been proposed in order to meet the requirements of small cross-axial acceleration, high sensitivity, and linear sensitivity. The overall chip dimension is 1.5 × 1.5 × 0.5 mm³ (L × W × T) and the beam size is 950 × 80 × 10 μm³ (L × W × T). The purpose of this constrained optimization process is to achieve the highest sensitivity or resolution while imposing conditions on other parameters. It has been done based on the considerations of the junction depth, the doping concentration of the piezoresistor, the temperature, the signal to noise ratio, and the power consumption. Such an optimized accelerometer offers a much better performance compared to others.

Keywords:

• Accelerometer
• Constrained
• Optimization
• Piezoresistor
• 3-DOF

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Dr Phuoc X. Tran has helped to improve the writing style.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by VSL, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

Notes on contributors

Tran Duc-Tan

Tran Duc Tan was born in 1980. He received his BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees in 2002, 2005, and 2010, respectively, from the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Vietnam National University – Hanoi, Vietnam (VNUH), where he has been a lecturer since 2006. He was the recipient of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam Young Scientific Award in 2008. He is currently an associate professor with the Faculty of Electronics and Telecommunications, University of Engineering and Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam. He is author and co-author of 30 papers on MEMS-based sensors and their application. His present research interest is in DSP applications.

E-mail: [email protected]

Tue Huu Huynh

Huu Tue Huynh received his Sc.D. degree in 1972 from Laval University, Canada, where from 1969 to 2004 he was professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In 2004, he left Laval University to become chairman of the Department of Data Processing at the College of Technology of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi. During the period 2007–2011, he was the president of Bac Ha International University, Vietnam. He is now a research professor at the School of Electrical Engineering, International University, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He was an Invited Guest at The AT&T Information Systems in Neptune, NJ, in 1984 and has been invited to give lectures at several Universities in Europe, America as well as in Asia. He is author and co-author of two books and more than two hundred papers and research reports in Information Processing. He has served as consultant to a number of Canadian Government Agencies and Industries. His research interests cover stochastic simulation techniques, information processing, fast algorithms, and architecture with applications to finance and to communications

E-mail: [email protected]

Sébastien Roy

Sébastien Roy received his BSc and MSc degrees in electrical engineering from Laval University, Québec, QC, Canada, in 1991 and 1993, respectively, and the PhD degree from Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada, in 2000. He is currently full professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Laval University, where he is pursuing research in the system-level and implementation aspects of signal processing for communications as well as space–time processing and space–time coding. From 2000 to 2002, he was a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) postdoctoral fellow at Laval University. He has also been active in industrial consulting with companies such as InterDigital and MacDonald Dettwiller, and was involved in the organization of several international conferences. In 2007 and 2009, he was an invited professor at l’École Nationale Supérieure de Sciences Appliquées et de Technologie (ENSSAT), Lannion, France. He received five teaching awards and in 2007 received the award for excellence in technology transfer from the strategic network on Systems and Technologies for Advanced Communications (SYTAcom). He was also bestowed the award for Post-Graduate Research Excellence from the Canadian Institute for Telecommunications Research in 2000.

E-mail: [email protected]

Dzung Viet Dao

Dzung Viet Dao received his bachelor's degree in informatics-mechanical engineering and master's degree in machinery mechanics in 1995 and 1997, respectively, and PhD degree in science and engineering from Ritsumeikan University in 2003. He served as a lecturer at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, HUT, from 1995 to 1999. In 1999, he joined Ritsumeikan University, where he was a postdoctoral fellow with the Micro Nano Integrated Devices Laboratory from 2003 to 2006, a lecturer from 2006 to 2007, and a chair professor from 2007 to 2011. From 2011, he joined Griffith University as a senior lecturer in the School of Engineering, Gold Coast Campus, where he is teaching in mechatronics and mechanical engineering courses. He is a full member of Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre. He is the author and co-author of over 200 papers published in scientific journals and conference proceedings, and 15 Japanese patents. His current research interests are the sensing effects in nanostructured materials, silicon and silicon carbide micromachined physical and mechanical sensors, micro-actuators, integrated MEMS/NEMS technology, and Robotics.

E-mail: [email protected]