An inertial measurement apparatus has mechanically bendable beams that have an isosceles trapezoid cross-section. The apparatus has a resonant member having a perimeter at least partially defined by a sidewall slanted at a first angular value and at least one electrode disposed adjacent, and parallel, to the sidewall and separated therefrom by a capacitive gap.

An inertial measurement apparatus has mechanically bendable beams that have an isosceles trapezoid cross-section. The apparatus has a resonant member having a perimeter at least partially defined by a sidewall slanted at a first angular value and at least one electrode disposed adjacent, and parallel, to the sidewall and separated therefrom by a capacitive gap.

A multi-axis accelerometer may include a proof mass, a first electrode set, and a second electrode set. The first electrode set may detect acceleration along a second axis of the accelerometer, and may include a first electrode (C1) and a second electrode (C2). The second electrode set may detect acceleration along a first axis of the accelerometer that is orthogonal to the second axis, and may include a third electrode (C3) and a fourth electrode (C4). Application of a force along only the second axis may result in the exhibition of a non-zero change in differential capacitance between at least C1 and C2, but a zero net change in the differential capacitance between at least C3 and C4. As such, the accelerometer may exhibit little or no cross axis sensitivity in response to the applied force.

The present invention provides a capacitive micromechanical acceleromete. The capacitive micromechanical acceleromete includes a base with anchor points, at least one detection structure pair arranged on one side of the base and elastically connected to the anchor points, and a detection electrode spaced apart from each detection structure pair. Each detection structure pair includes two seesaw structures elastically connected to the base respectively. The seesaw structures are asymmetric about a rotation axis where the anchor points are located; asymmetric portions of the two seesaw structures are reversed and parallel. In a detection modality, changing directions of spacings formed between the two seesaw structures and the detection electrode are opposite. The capacitive micromechanical acceleromete can reduce the impact of the noise of the angular acceleration of the external rotation or the stress and other external factors on the detection of the accelerometer, and improving the detection accuracy.

An inertial sensor includes a movable element having a mass that is asymmetric relative to a rotational axis and anchors attached to the substrate. First and second spring systems are spaced apart from the surface of the substrate. Each of the first and second spring systems includes a pair of beams, a center flexure interposed between the beams, and a pair of end flexures. One of the end flexures is interconnected between one of the beams and one of the anchors and the other end flexure is interconnected between one of the beams and the movable element. The beams are resistant to deformation relative to the center flexure and the end flexures. The first and second spring systems facilitate rotational motion of the movable element about the rotational axis and the spring systems facilitate translational motion of the movable element substantially parallel to the surface of the substrate.

A single axis inertial sensor includes a proof mass spaced apart from a surface of a substrate. The proof mass has first, second, third, and fourth sections. The third section diagonally opposes the first section relative to a center point of the proof mass and the fourth section diagonally opposes the second section relative to the center point. A first mass of the first and third sections is greater than a second mass of the second and fourth sections. A first lever structure is connected to the first and second sections, a second lever structure is connected to the second and third sections, a third lever structure is connected to the third and fourth sections, and a fourth lever structure is connected to the fourth and first sections. The lever structures enable translational motion of the proof mass in response to Z-axis linear acceleration forces imposed on the sensor.

A MEMS accelerometer includes a base, proof mass, at least one pair of seesaw structures, and an out-of-plane displacement detection component. The at least one pair of the seesaw structures are oppositely disposed and fixed on the base through anchor points, and the out-of-plane displacement detection component is configured to detect rotation of the at least one pair of the seesaw structures or out-of-plane linear motion of the proof mass. Linear displacement of the MEMS accelerometer is not only beneficial to improve linearity of a capacitive displacement detection, but also to other non-capacitive detection methods, such as optical displacement detection. In addition, a double coupling structure is adopted to jointly couple rotation of seesaws, and remaining translational and rotational modes of the seesaw structures are suppressed.

The structure enables two-directional sensing of accelerations with compact component dimensions and with minimal cross-axis sensitivity. The rotation mass includes a first frame and a second frame. In one sense direction, the structure employs a combined proof mass of the first frame and the second frame, which improves the signal to noise level achievable with said device dimensions. In the other sense direction, a detection structure with at least two sensing elements is used to detect displacements of the proof mass of the second frame. Due to the specific internal configuration of the detection structure, signal contributions of the sensing elements in the one direction cancel each other.

A microelectromechanical accelerometer is provided that includes one or more proof masses. The accelerometer also includes four sets of stator combs that form a set of four measurement capacitors together with rotor combs. Some rotor combs have a positive offset in a direction in the device plane in relation to stator, while others have a negative offset. Some rotor combs have a negative offset in a direction perpendicular to the device plane in relation to stator combs. Moreover, some stator combs have a negative offset in the direction perpendicular to the device plane in relation to rotor combs.

A dual axis accelerometer with a single proof mass measures in-plane acceleration (e.g., either along an x-axis or a y-axis), out-of-plane acceleration (e.g., normal to an x-y plane), and tilt of a fixed portion of a MEMS layer (e.g., normal to the x-y plane). In response to a tilt measurement, the dual-axis accelerometer compensates any offset (e.g., variability) of the out-of-plane accelerometer in order to maintain offset stability. In some embodiments, multiple dual axis accelerometers, perpendicularly configured, may be implemented via processing circuitry to offer three axis sensitivity capability.