High performance torsional silicon accelerometer for automotive air bags

A high-sensitivity torsional silicon accelerometer for automotive air bag systems has been developed using wet etching of single crystal silicon and a silicon-glass bonding technique. The fabricated accelerometer yields a sensitivity of 100 mV/G, and a nonlinearity of 1.13% over a range of -22 G to 22 G. The minimum detectable acceleration measured by the readout electronics is 25 mG.