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Design and Simulation of MEMS Differential Capacitive Accelerometer

Conference Paper · July 2014

DOI: 10.13140/2.1.1074.8809

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 ISSS International Conference on Smart Materials, Structures and Systems
July 08-11, 2014, Bangalore, India

DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF MEMS DIFFERENTIAL

CAPACITIVE ACCELEROMETER

Soumendu Sinhaa,b, Snigdha Shakyaa, Ravindra Mukhiyaa,b, Ram Gopala,b, B.D. Panta,b
a
CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani 333031, India
b
Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi 110001, India
Email: soumendu.sinha@gmail.com

Abstract: In this paper, a MEMS differential capacitive accelerometer is designed and simulated for an 8 µm UV-LIGA
technology. The in-plane (x-/y-axis) accelerometer works for an acceleration range of ± 10g, operating at 5 Volts. Simulation
results show a sensitivity of 3.83 fF/g with a cross-axis sensitivity of 0.47%. The device shows good linearity in the operating
bandwidth of DC-400 Hz with a quality factor of 10. Simulations of the device were carried out in CoventorWare® and MEMS+®
and their results are found to be closely matching with analytically calculated results. Using CoventorWare® modal analysis, the
lateral-axis mode is dominant at 1.45 kHz which is desirable to get high in-plane sensitivity.

Keywords: MEMS, Accelerometer, CoventorWare, MEMS+, UV-LIGA.

1. INTRODUCTION microfabrication processes enable the integration of these

Accelerometers are used to measure the acceleration of a
moving object. They can measure tilt, shocks, vibrations and
inertial acceleration. They find application in many areas such
as navigation and guidance systems, automobile air bag
systems, biomedical applications, vibration monitoring
systems etc., which lead their demand [1]. With the
advancement of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
technology, MEMS accelerometers are now commercially
available and it is now possible to integrate them into cost
sensitive commercial devices such as smartphones, shock
monitoring equipment, robotics etc. [2]. Due to
miniaturization, they can be used for applications such as
active stabilization of pictures in cameras, in-vivo activity
monitoring in biomedical applications, monitoring mechanical
shock and vibration of devices during transportation, etc. They
can also have several military applications where high
sensitivity accelerometers along with gyroscopes can act as
crucial components in navigation and guidance systems. Fig.
1 shows some of the applications along with sensitivity and
bandwidth requirements [3].
Figure 1: The application areas for accelerometers and the
bandwidth-resolution performances [3].
MEMS accelerometers have low cost, small size, low power
consumption, repeatability, high sensitivity and enormous
design flexibility [4]. IC (Integrated Circuit) compatible
mechanical transducers together with their readout circuitry on
the same substrate resulting in more reliable and higher
performance accelerometers. These advantages have attracted
several big players in the MEMS market to develop MEMS
accelerometers [1]. They are replacing the conventional
devices used for applications such as airbag deployment
systems in automobiles. One of the most successful products
in the market is the ADXL series of the Analog Devices.
Analog Devices have a variety of accelerometers,
monolithically fabricated with its readout circuitry, which are
surface micromachined polysilicon based [5].
Accelerometers measure linear acceleration along their
sensitive axis. The acceleration value can be extracted by
utilizing the movement of a proofmass, connected to anchor
via suspension beams. An external acceleration displaces the
proofmass from its initial position. This displacement is
proportional to the magnitude of acceleration. Hence, the
applied acceleration input is converted to proofmass
displacement in the sensor. By using appropriate readout
circuits, the magnitude of this displacement can be extracted.
Micromachined accelerometers have various sensing
mechanisms, and they are classified into several groups based
on the transduction technique used. Some of the most common
techniques are piezoresistive, piezoelectric, capacitive, and
thermal [2, 6]. We have designed a capacitive accelerometer
because they have several advantages, which make them very
attractive for numerous applications [2, 6]. They have a low
temperature dependency unlike piezoresistive accelerometers.
Moreover, they have very good DC response, high voltage
sensitivity, low noise floor, and low drift. Another important
property of the capacitive accelerometers is their low power
dissipation, as well as their simple structure. Capacitive
accelerometers convert the acceleration into a capacitance
change. When an external acceleration is applied to the
accelerometer, the seismic or proofmass deflects from its
initial position and causes change in the capacitance between
the proofmass and stationary electrodes. Fig. 2 shows a MEMS
capacitive accelerometer with lateral sensing technique,
having single electrode. An electronic circuitry can easily
measure this capacitance change by detecting change in output
voltage. The sensing mechanism can be made differential as
well in order to increase the sensitivity [7].
Figure 2: Capacitive accelerometer with lateral sensing.
In the next section, we have discussed the basic theory and
working principle of MEMS differential capacitive
accelerometer. This is followed by the design of accelerometer
according to the specifications. The results obtained through
simulations of accelerometer using CoventorWare® and
MEMS+® are presented and discussed in the following
section. Finally, the proposed process flow for fabrication of
accelerometer is discussed in the last section.
2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
A single-axis, in-plane differential capacitive accelerometer
with transverse (variable gap) sensing was designed and
simulated with the help of CoventorWare® and MEMS+®. The
schematic of the accelerometer is shown in Fig. 3.
Figure 3: Schematic of MEMS differential capacitive accelerometer.
It consists of a proofmass with comb-like sensing fingers,
fixed electrodes and suspension beams connected to anchors.
Electrical connections are also illustrated in the Figure. The
design consists of three masks created with the help of L-
Edit® tool and then imported into CoventorWare® for FEM
simulations. Fig. 4 shows the 3-D model of accelerometer
created in CoventorWare®.
Figure 4: 3-D solid model of accelerometer created using
CoventorWare®.
The supporting beam is designed as fixed-guided end beam [8]
as shown in Fig. 5.
Figure 5: Spring design for the accelerometer.
The spring constant of one section of the beam can be
expressed as
Ehw 3
kx  , (1)
L3
where, E is the Young’s modulus of Nickel, w is the width of
beam, L is the length of beam, and h is the thickness. The aim
of the design is to have parallelism of the free end with the
fixed end. The truss region is especially designed to be 4 times
wider than the beam width to preserve the rigidity of this
region which helps in maintaining the fixed-guided end beam
configuration [4]. The overall spring constant of the structure
can be calculated by series and parallel combination of these
beams. The final expression is
3
2 EhWb
kx  3
. (2)
Lb
From the simulations in CoventorWare® and MEMS+®, the
spring constant is calculated using the equation
m.a
k , (3)
x
where, m is the mass of structure, a is applied acceleration on
the proofmass and x is the resultant displacement. Table 1
shows a comparison between calculated and simulated values
of the spring constant.

Table 1: Comparison of the spring constant
Evaluation method Value
Analytical calculation 6.08
CoventorWare® 6.08
MEMS+® 6.07
As shown in Fig. 4, the proofmass is perforated. This is helpful
in releasing the large area structure of the proofmass by
removal of sacrificial layer. The dimensions of the proofmass
are calculated on the basis of required natural frequency. The
mass of accelerometer is found to be 87.4 µg using
CoventorWare®.
The sensitivity of the device is directly proportional to the
displacement of the proofmass from its mean position on
application of external acceleration. This is inversely
proportional to the resonant frequency of the device. The same
relation is given in Eq. (4). Therefore, to obtain higher
sensitivity, resonant frequency should be as less as possible
while the spring constant (k) and the mass (m) should be fixed
in order to obtain large displacement.
amax m
xmax   . (4)
r2 k where, l is the overlap length of fingers, t is the overlap area of
The supporting beam and mass dimensions are designed
keeping in mind that the displacement of proofmass should not
exceed one-third of the gap between two electrodes in order to
avoid pull-in phenomenon [7].
Accelerometer can be modeled by a second-order mass-
damper-spring system, as shown in Fig. 6. External
acceleration displaces the proofmass relative to the supporting
frame, which is opposed by spring force and damper.
Figure 6: Dynamic model of an accelerometer.
The inertial force equation is expressed as follows
Fnet  Fspring  Fdamping  Fexternal , (5)
mx  bx  kx  Fexternal , (6)
where, m is the mass of the system, x is the displacement, b is
the damping coefficient and k is the spring constant.
Considering x-axis as the sensing direction, the dynamic
equation of the system is given by the differential equation
d2 d
m 2
x(t )  b x(t )  kx(t )  ma(t ) , (7)
dt dt
where, a(t) is acceleration of the proofmass.
Squeeze-film damping effect exists between the comb-fingers
as shown in Fig. 7. Assuming Hagen-Poiseuille flow [9, 10],
squeeze-film damping coefficient between comb-fingers can
be written as:
3
t
b  7.2 eff l   , (8)
h
Figure 7: Squeeze-film damping between comb-fingers.
fingers, h is the gap between fingers and µeff is the effective
viscosity. Another air damping mechanism called Couette-
flow damping is also present in the system which occurs when
two parallel plates move parallel to each other [9]. The total
damping coefficient of the accelerometer is the sum of the
damping coefficients of each mechanism, calculated
separately. However, the magnitude of Couette-flow damping
is much smaller than squeeze-film damping [11], and thus it is
ignored. The overall damping coefficient obtained through
simulations in CoventorWare is 2.68E-06 N-sec/m at
atmospheric pressure 0.1023 MPa.
After calculating the total damping coefficient of the system,
quality factor, Q, of the accelerometer is calculated as
n m
Q , (9)
b
where, ωn is the natural frequency of the accelerometer, b is
the damping coefficient, and m is the seismic mass.
The fixed electrodes are arranged as a comb-drive, in order to
obtain differential capacitance, which increases the sensitivity
of the device and also helps in taking the electrical output in
terms of voltage as shown in Fig. 8. When the mass is
displaced from its mean position, the overall capacitance
differs from its nominal value, and based on the capacitance
change an output voltage is obtained.
 2 . N .l.h  x  x
C  C2  C1     2Co  
d d  d  (10)
 . N .l.h
where, Co  .
d
The sensitivity of the accelerometer is proportional to the
displacement of proofmass from its mean position and
inversely proportional to the gap between sensing electrodes,
given as

C x max
 . (11)
Figure 8: A close-view of differential sensing electrodes.
C d
The initial gap between electrodes plays a vital role in
Fig. 9(a) illustrates the comb finger structure with differential
determining the sensitivity of the device. The formation of
sensing. It also shows the capacitances formed between the
high aspect-ratio structure is a technological limitation and
stator and rotor fingers. Fig. 9(b) shows the change of gap
thus to the sensitivity.
when the rotor moves, where C1 increases and C2 decreases.
The total energy in the comb-drive capacitive structure is
calculated as given by Eq. (12). The force in the x-direction is
calculated by partial differentiation of the energy w.r.t. x.

1 Nεεl Vdc  Vac  1 Nεεl Vdc  Vac 

2 2
1
E  CV 2  
2 2 dx 2 dx
(12)

1 Nlh Vdc  Vac  1 Nlh Vdc  Vac 

2 2
dE
F   
dx 2 d  x  2
2 d  x 2
(a) (13)
where,
N = number of fingers
d = original gap between electrodes
x = displacement from mean position
l = length of finger
h = overlap thickness of fingers
Vdc = applied DC voltage
Vac = applied AC voltage

(b) Solving for the force, we obtain

NlhV dc2
2 xd   2 N2lhVdc2V2ac d 2  x 2 
Figure 9: Capacitance formation in comb-drive: (a) mean position
F
d  d 
(b) under acceleration.
2 2
Capacitances C1 and C2 are functions of gap between the
2
x x . (14)
electrodes. If the acceleration is zero, gap between the
Considering x<<d,
electrodes is equal and therefore, capacitances C1 and C2 are
equal. Under external acceleration, the proofmass gets 2 NlhV dc2  x  2 NlhV dcVac
displaced by x. Thus, the change in capacitance is calculated F  
as [12] d2 d  d2 . (15)
 . N .l.h  . N .l.h  . N .l.h  x Let,
C1    1  ,
dx  x d  d 2 NlhVdc2
d 1   Fdc  ;
 d d2
C2 
 . N .l.h  . N .l.h  . N .l.h  x 
  Vac  Vo sin t ;
1  ,
dx  x d  d 2 NlhVdcVo
d 1   Fac  .
 d d2
whereby, Thus,
 x f ace  
  22  ~r2  1 sin ~ 2  2  
 
F  Fdc    Fac sin t X2  2 cos ~r2  2  
d  r  12  42
~ 2
 ~r2  2
r

. (16)

f ac

~ 2  1sin   2 cos  .
Now, considering the effect of acceleration in time domain, ~ 2  12  42 r
r
Eq. (6) is rewritten as
. (22)
mx  bx  kx  Fapplied , The final solution for transient response of the accelerometer
is given by X = X1+X2.
which in explicit form is expressed as
For the system to be underdamped, i.e.,
~   condition

x
r
d 2x dx
m 2  b  kx  ma  Fdc    Fac sin t . (17) is met. The displacement amplitude is given by aˆ ~ 2 . By
dt dt d   r
taking Laplace transform of Eq. (20), we obtain
Let,
( s 2  2s  ~r2 ) Xˆ ( s)  aˆ  f ac
k mn 1
n  ;Q  ;Q  ; Xˆ s 
~ 2  A  exp i  .
2 1
m b 
aˆ  f ac    i 2  
2
r
and then Normalizing the Eq. (17) in term of following factors,
where, the amplitude response is given by
x a F F
  n t ;   ; aˆ  ; f dc  dc2 ; f ac  ac2 ;
d dn2
dwn m dwn m A  
1
~ 
r   2  42 2
2
, (23)
where, Q = quality factor, ωn = natural frequency.
and, the phase response is given by
The same takes the form as
2
d2X     tan 1 ~ 2
 1  f dc X  aˆ  f ac sin 
dX r   2
 2
d 2
d . (18)
. (24)
The design specifications for the accelerometer are given in
~ 2 Table 2.
Let, 1  f dc  r
.
 2
n
Table 2: Specifications of the Accelerometer

~ 2   2 1  f   Resonance frequency .

Specification Desired value Simulated value
r n dc Acceleration range ± 10g ± 10g
Bandwidth DC-400 Hz DC-400 Hz
d2X dX ~ 2
 2   r X  aˆ  f ac sin  Sensitivity 10 fF/g 3.83 fF/g
d 2
d (19) Resolution 100 µg/√Hz 2.41 µg/√Hz
Quality factor 10 10
Let X = X1+X2, whereby Eq. (19) splits into following two Cross-axis sensitivity 1% 0.47%
differential equations: Operating voltage 5V 5V
d 2 X1 dX ~ 2 X  aˆ ,
 2 1   The physical dimensions and performance results achieved for
d d
2 r 1
(20) the optimized accelerometer design to meet the specifications
d2X2 dX 2 ~ 2 are given in Table 3.
 2  r X 2   f ac sin  .
d 2 d Table 3: Optimized design and performance of the accelerometer
Solving for X1 and X2, we have following equations: Parameter Symbol Value

aˆ 
   
 Width of supporting beam Wb 6 µm

X 1  ~ 2 1  e  cos ~r2  2   sin ~r2  2  , Length of supporting beam Lb 500 µm
r   ~r2  2 
 Number of turns 1
and (21) Width of the proof mass Wm 1000 µm
Length of the proof mass Lm 1300 µm
Device thickness t 8 µm
Size of the holes 10 µm x 10 µm
Gap between holes 10 µm
Movable finger width Wf 5 µm
Movable finger length Lf 40 µm
Total Number of sensing
Ns 94
fingers
 Capacitance gap d 4 µm Table 4: Simulated resonant frequencies
Sensing mass Ms 87.4 µg
Modes Mode shape CoventorWare MEMS+
Nominal capacitance Co 100 fF
Mode 1 Along x-axis 1.45E+03 Hz 1.38E+03 Hz
Spring constant Kx 6.08 N/m
Mode 2 Along z-axis 1.80E+03 Hz 1.88E+03 Hz
Displacement sensitivity Sd 0.19 µm/g
Mode 3 Torsional across y-
Resonant frequency ωr 1448 Hz axis
3.26E+03 Hz 3.17E+03 Hz

3. SIMULATION RESULTS Frequency analysis of the device was performed in MEMS+ ®

and MATLAB®. The results are shown in Fig. 11. The
Based on the analytical equations the accelerometer performance is almost linear in the working range of DC to
dimensions were optimized to achieve the specifications. The 100 Hz. This is important to avoid non-linearity in the device.
design was implemented into the MEMS CAD tool This was verified in CoventorWare® through harmonic
COVENTOR®. First of all, Modal analysis of the structure was analysis. Fig. 12(a) and 12(b) show the amplitude and phase
carried out using CoventorWare® as well as MEMS+®. The response of the accelerometer respectively.
dominant mode is ensured along the x-axis, i.e., lateral
direction as shown in Fig. 10 (a). The second mode is in the
vertical direction as shown in Fig 10 (b). Table 4 shows the
comparison between natural frequencies for first three modes
obtained in CoventorWare® as well as MEMS+®.

Figure 11: Frequency response of accelerometer using MEMS+®.

(a)

(a)

(b)
Figure 10: Resonant modes of accelerometer: (a) Fundamental
mode in x-direction, (b) Secondary mode in z-direction.
 (b) Acceleration (g)

Figure 12: Frequency response of accelerometer using Figure 13: Comparison of acceleration vs. displacement for
CoventorWare®: (a) Amplitude response, (b) Phase response. CoventorWare® and MEMS+®.

Fig. 13 shows a comparison of the displacement results for 1g

to 10g acceleration using CoventorWare® and MEMS+®. The
results showed an excellent matching for the two. On
increasing the magnitude of applied AC voltage, the sensitivity
of the accelerometer is enhanced as shown in Fig. 14.
Transient analysis of the device was performed using
MEMS+®. The turn-on and settling time of the device are
found to be 0.3 ms and 6 ms, respectively. The transient
response of the accelerometer on application of 1g acceleration
in x-direction using step signal is as shown in Fig. 15.
As the DC voltage on the proofmass increases, a pull-in
phenomenon is observed due to electrostatic forces exceeding
the mechanical spring force. The pull-in phenomenon is
expressed by Eq. (25). Acceleration (g)
Figure 14: Acceleration vs. displacement for different AC signal for
8 kd 3
V pullin  , (25) MEMS+®.
27 A
where, k is spring constant, d is spacing between the
electrodes, and A is overlap area.
The pull-in voltage of the accelerometer is obtained as 17.02V
which closely matches the analytically calculated value of
16.88V as shown in Fig. 16.

Figure 15: Transient response of the accelerometer.


Figure 16: Illustration of Pull-in phenomena for the accelerometer.
4. PROPOSED DEVICE FABRICATION
The accelerometer device is designed to be fabricated using
UV-LIGA technology, which is well-established at authors’
laboratory [13]. The process flow is shown in Fig. 17. It is a
three mask process. Gold is used as the seed layer and
chromium improves its adhesion to the substrate. Copper is
used for the sacrificial layer and Nickel is used as the structural
layer. The mould for structural layer is made up of negative
photoresist SU-8. Firstly, the anchor and electrodes are formed
using lift-off process. Seed layer for the sacrificial layer is
sputtered and patterned to obtain the anchoring regions. After
protecting the anchors with photoresist, the sacrificial layer is
grown using electroplating. This is followed by the mould
formation of structural layer using SU-8. Finally, the structural
layer is grown using Nickel electroplating and the structure is
released after sacrificial Cu layer etching.
Figure 17: Proposed process flow for the accelerometer: (a) Silicon
wafer; (b) Formation of anchor and electrodes by lift-off process; (c)
Ti/Cu sputtering (seed layer); (d) Photoresist coating and patterning
for anchors and electrodes; (e) Electroplating of copper used as
sacrificial layer; (f) SU-8 coating and patterning for structural layer;
(g) Electroplating of nickel; (h) Release of structure after sacrificial
etch.
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5. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, design and simulation of a MEMS differential
capacitive accelerometer using CoventorWare® and MEMS+®
have been presented for an 8 µm UV-LIGA technology. For
the designed accelerometer, a sensitivity of 3.83 fF/g is
achieved with a cross-axis sensitivity of 0.47%. Through
simulations, we verified the bandwidth of DC-400 Hz with a
quality factor of 10. The sensitivity of the device is enhanced
by increasing the applied AC signal. The fabrication process
flow for using UV-LIGA technique is also discussed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge Director, CSIR-
Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute, Pilani for
his valuable guidance. They would like to thank all the
members of MEMS & Microsensors group for their co-
operation and support. This financial support by CSIR, New
Delhi, India through project PSC-0201: MicroSenSys
(SUPRA Institutional Project) is gratefully acknowledged.
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