Design study for a surface micromachined accelerometer with integrated electronics

Summary form only given. We describe a prototype accelerometer structure, which we are fabricating using CMOS compatible processing. We describe the practical work which we have undertaken to fabricate the microstructure and integrated electronic devices. Results of finite element analysis modelling studies using ANSYS software to determine the behaviour of the accelerometer are presented, along with predictions of device performance. This shows that surface machined microstructures can provide near inertial grade components