Sensors 2012, 12(10), 13985-14003; doi:10.3390/s121013985
Article

Physically-Based Reduced Order Modelling of a Uni-Axial Polysilicon MEMS Accelerometer

Aldo Ghisi 1,* email, Stefano Mariani 1 email, Alberto Corigliano 1 email and Sarah Zerbini 2 email
1 Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy 2 MSH Division, STMicroelectronics, Via Tolomeo 1, 20010 Cornaredo, Italy
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 6 August 2012; in revised form: 20 September 2012 / Accepted: 11 October 2012 / Published: 17 October 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art Sensors Technology in Italy 2012)
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Abstract: In this paper, the mechanical response of a commercial off-the-shelf, uni-axial polysilicon MEMS accelerometer subject to drops is numerically investigated. To speed up the calculations, a simplified physically-based (beams and plate), two degrees of freedom model of the movable parts of the sensor is adopted. The capability and the accuracy of the model are assessed against three-dimensional finite element simulations, and against outcomes of experiments on instrumented samples. It is shown that the reduced order model provides accurate outcomes as for the system dynamics. To also get rather accurate results in terms of stress fields within regions that are prone to fail upon high-g shocks, a correction factor is proposed by accounting for the local stress amplification induced by re-entrant corners.
Keywords: MEMS inertial sensors; reduced order modelling; shocks and drops; polysilicon

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MDPI and ACS Style

Ghisi, A.; Mariani, S.; Corigliano, A.; Zerbini, S. Physically-Based Reduced Order Modelling of a Uni-Axial Polysilicon MEMS Accelerometer. Sensors 2012, 12, 13985-14003.

AMA Style

Ghisi A, Mariani S, Corigliano A, Zerbini S. Physically-Based Reduced Order Modelling of a Uni-Axial Polysilicon MEMS Accelerometer. Sensors. 2012; 12(10):13985-14003.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ghisi, Aldo; Mariani, Stefano; Corigliano, Alberto; Zerbini, Sarah. 2012. "Physically-Based Reduced Order Modelling of a Uni-Axial Polysilicon MEMS Accelerometer." Sensors 12, no. 10: 13985-14003.

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