A 3-D Capacitive-Detection Electrode for a Single Gold Proof-Mass Three-Axis MEMS Accelerometer

This paper describes a novel capacitive-detection electrode for a single gold proof-mass three-axis MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) accelerometer. We propose a 3-D capacitive-detection electrode (3-DCE) for a high and uniform sensitivity to sense micro-G (G=9.Sm/s
²
) level. Based on the analysis in terms of the sensitivity and the Brownian noise B
N
, we design and fabricate the device with 3-DCE by the multi-metal layer technology for a post-CMOS process. The experimental results show that the obtained B
N
is 0.16 µG/√Hz and the sensitivities of X-, Y-, and Z-axis are 162, 210, and 341 fF /G, respectively.