Provided is a physical quantity sensor including: a movable body; a base body; and a lid body, in which the movable body is accommodated in a space between the base body and the lid body, the space is sealed with a melt portion obtained by melting a through hole provided in the lid body, the lid body and the melt portion contain silicon, and the melt portion has a continuous curved surface having unevenness.

Accelerometers are described herein that have RMS outputs. For instance, an example accelerometer may include a MEMS device and an ASIC. The MEMS device includes a structure having an attribute that changes in response to acceleration of an object. The ASIC determines acceleration of the object based at least in part on changes in the attribute. The ASIC includes analog circuitry, an ADC, and firmware. The analog circuitry measures the changes in the attribute and generates analog signals that represent the changes. The ADC converts the analog signals to digital signals. The firmware includes RMS firmware. The RMS firmware performs an RMS calculation on a representation of the digital signals to provide an RMS value that represents an amount of the acceleration of the object.

A MEMS vibration sensor includes a piezoelectric membrane including a segmented electrode affixed to a holder; and an inertial mass affixed to the piezoelectric membrane, wherein the segmented electrode includes four segmentation zones, wherein, in an X-direction, a signal from a first segmentation zone is equal to a signal from a third segmentation zone, a signal from a second segmentation zone is equal to a signal from a fourth segmentation zone, and the signal from the first segmentation zone and the signal from the second segmentation zone have opposite signs, and wherein, in a Y-direction, a signal from the first segmentation zone is equal to the signal from the second segmentation zone, the signal from the third segmentation zone is equal to the signal from the fourth segmentation zone, and the signal from first segmentation zone and the signal from the third segmentation zone have opposite signs.

A microelectromechanical accelerometer for measuring acceleration, comprising a first proof mass and ae second proof mass. The first proof mass is adjacent to the second proof mass. A suspension structure allows the first proof mass to undergo rotation out of the device plane about a first rotation axis and the suspension structure allows the second proof mass to undergo rotation out of the device plane about a second rotation axis. The first and second rotation axes are parallel to each other and define an x-direction which is parallel to the first and the second rotation axes and a y-direction which is perpendicular to the x-direction. The y-coordinate of the first rotation axis is greater than the y-coordinate of the second rotation axis by a nonzero distance D.

A method of manufacturing a physical quantity detection sensor includes forming a stacked structure having a plurality of sensor devices by bonding together a sensor substrate and a different type substrate of a different material from a material of the sensor substrate, the sensor substrate having a plurality of sensor movable portions therein, and dicing the stacked structure using a dicing blade, wherein a groove is provided in one of the sensor substrate and the different type substrate to penetrate the one of the sensor substrate and the different type substrate, the groove having a width larger than a width of the dicing blade, and in at least part of the dicing, the dicing blade is accommodated in the groove and advances without contacting surfaces on left and right sides of the groove.

A method for detecting electric meter installation issues includes: determining an initial orientation of an electric meter based on initial acceleration measurements from an accelerometer positioned in the electric meter. Subsequent acceleration measurements from the accelerometer may be continuously monitoring, and a subsequent orientation of the electric meter may be determined based on the subsequent acceleration measurements. A difference between the initial orientation and the subsequent orientation based on the initial acceleration measurements and the subsequent acceleration measurements may be determined and compared to a threshold value. Based on the difference exceeding the threshold value, a notification of a change in orientation of the electric meter may be generated to a head-end system.

A sensor system including a plurality of individual and separate sensor elements. Each of the individual sensor elements is independently functional. The individual sensor elements of the sensor system being formed in one piece from parts of a wafer or a vertically integrated wafer stack. The sensor system including at least one separation structure, in particular a scribe line, between the individual and separate sensor elements.

Disclosed herein are aspects of a multiple-mass, multi-axis microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometer sensor device with a fully differential sensing design that applies differential drive signals to movable proof masses and senses differential motion signals at sense fingers coupled to a substrate. In some embodiments, capacitance signals from different sense fingers are combined together at a sensing signal node disposed on the substrate supporting the proof masses. In some embodiments, a split shield may be provided, with a first shield underneath a proof mass coupled to the same drive signal applied to the proof mass and a second shield electrically isolated from the first shield provided underneath the sense fingers and biased with a constant voltage to provide shielding for the sense fingers.

A MEMS inertial sensor includes a supporting structure and an inertial structure. The inertial structure includes at least one inertial mass, an elastic structure, and a stopper structure. The elastic structure is mechanically coupled to the inertial mass and to the supporting structure so as to enable a movement of the inertial mass along a first direction, when the supporting structure is subjected to an acceleration parallel to the first direction. The stopper structure is fixed with respect to the supporting structure and includes at least one primary and one secondary stopper elements. If the acceleration exceeds a first threshold value, the inertial mass abuts against the primary stopper element and subsequently rotates about an axis of rotation defined by the primary stopper element. If the acceleration exceeds a second threshold value, rotation of the inertial mass terminates when the inertial mass abuts against the secondary stopper element.

A microelectromechanical device includes a substrate, a first structural layer, and a second structural layer of semiconductor material. A sensing mass extends in the first structural layer and is coupled to the substrate by first elastic connections to enable oscillation of the sensing mass in a sensing direction perpendicular to the substrate by a maximum amount relative to a resting position of the sensing mass. An out-of-plane stopper structure includes an anchorage fixed to the substrate and a mechanical end-of-travel structure, which extends in the second structural layer, faces the sensing mass, and is separated therefrom by a gap having a width smaller than the maximum displacement distance of the sensing mass. The mechanical end-of-travel structure is coupled to the anchorage by second elastic connections that enable movement of the mechanical end-of-travel structure in the sensing direction in response to an impact of the sensing mass.