A MEMS tilt sensor with expanded operating range and improved sensitivity

In this paper, a simple and novel method of expanding the operating range of inclinations and of increasing the sensitivity of convection-based tilt sensors is shown. Even though the previously reported convective tilt sensors fabricated in our laboratory have their own merits in performing dual-axes inclination measurement with excellent linearity and symmetric sensitivity, they showed limited operating range from -90 to 90 degrees because of their structural limitations. However, this proposed tilt sensor has overcome the structural limitations and it detects inclinations wider than the +/- 90 degrees range on two axes with symmetric sensitivity. The improved performance could be achieved by removing the membrane at the bottom of the microheater and temperature sensors for unlimited gas movement in the cavity when it tilted over the +/- 90 degrees range. The operating range of the newly proposed tilt sensor expands to +/- 180 degrees compared with that of the previously reported convective tilt sensor. Moreover, various designs of cavities and cap substrates were adopted to improve the sensitivity of the proposed convective tilt sensor. The mass production of the proposed convection-based tilt sensor is still feasible because it can be fabricated at a low cost because of its simple fabrication step. Its sensitivity is high and it has a very wide-angle detection range. (C) 2014 The Japan Society of Applied Physics