A MEMS VIBRATING BEAM ACCELEROMETER FOR HIGH RESOLUTION SEISMOMETRY AND GRAVIMETRY

A differential MEMS vibrating beam accelerometer (VBA) demonstrating excellent stability for seismology and gravimetry applications is presented. The accelerometer response demonstrates excellent linearity over an acceleration range of +/- 1 g (1 g = 9.8 m s(-2)) with a scale factor of 9825 Hz/g. An approximately flat output Allan deviation with an average value of 15 ng is recorded over integration times tau = 1 s - 1000 s with a best-case bias instability of < 10 ng and a noise floor of 10 ng root Hz. These results, taken collectively, set new benchmarks for vibrating beam MEMS accelerometers.

Automated summary

A differential MEMS vibrating beam accelerometer with excellent stability is presented for seismology and gravimetry applications. It demonstrates outstanding linearity and low bias instability, setting new benchmarks for vibrating beam MEMS accelerometers.