Tunneling-Based Micromachined Inertial Sensors for the Advanced Tactical IMU

R.L. Kubena, G.M. Atkinson, W.P. Robinson, F.P. Stratton, R.J. Joyce, and F.W. Hardy

Abstract:	We have fabricated a new class of high performance tunneling accelerometers using surface micromachining. The accelerometer structures are fabricated on the surface of a single silicon wafer and consist of a single cantilevered beam with electrostatic deflection electrodes and a sub- 1 00-nm-diameter tunneling tip underneath. The noise level resolutions in air of IOO-l.trn and 250+m-long cantilever devices are 8.3 x 10-4g/Hz”” and 8.5 x 10-5g/H~1/2 at 500 Hz, respectively. The devices are operated in a force rebalance feedback mode using a low noise automatic servo-control circuit, providing a dynamic range of over lo4 g. This new accelerometer technology provides devices with extremely high sensitivity, high bandwidth and wide dynamic range, in an ultra-compact, low-cost package that is easily integrated with silicon control electronics.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1996) June 19 - 21, 1996 Royal Sonesta Hotel Cambridge, MA
Pages:	595 - 599
Cite this article:	Kubena, R.L., Atkinson, G.M., Robinson, W.P., Stratton, F.P., Joyce, R.J., Hardy, F.W., "Tunneling-Based Micromachined Inertial Sensors for the Advanced Tactical IMU," Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1996), Cambridge, MA, June 1996, pp. 595-599.
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