Thelma-double: A New Technology Platform for Manufacturing of High-Performance Mems Inertial Sensors

This paper reports for the first time a novel micromachining technology developed to manufacture high performance inertial sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes, resonators): ThELMA-Double. The architecture novelty consists in the fabrication of structural and electrical elements using multiple independent thick epitaxial polysilicon layers. ThELMA-Double technology platform was conceived to allow inertial sensor footprint shrinkage without trading off with electrical performance and mechanical robustness. As proof of concept, physical and electrical characterization results are reported in case of a 6-axis combo device (3-ax accelerometer and 3-ax gyroscope on the same die) at wafer level and on assembled parts.