University of Michigan

Yemin Tang

Khalil Najafi

Techniques are presented for fabricating transducers and other types of microstructures having high aspect ratios. To achieve high aspect ratios, wafers are etched from both sides for example using deep reactive ion etching. The three-dimensional structure is designed to have an overall footprint less than four hundred micrometers with a thickness on the order of 0.5-2 millimeters as compared to conventional planar devices.

Capacitive-based transducer with high aspect ratio

The design and fabrication of a multi-axis capacitive accelerometer is presented with sub-&#x3bc;g resolution based on CMOS-compatible fabrication technology that can provide large proof-mass, high-aspect ratio and a large sense electrode area within a smaller footprint that previous accelerometers. In some instances, the device footprint can be reduced by placing the sense electrodes near the top or bottom of the transducer structure such that motion of the transducer causes size of the sense gap to vary in a direction that is parallel with longitudinal axis of the support beam for the transducer structure. An extra mass can also be added to the top of the transducer structure to increase sensitivity.

Growing community of inventors

Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Yemin Tang