Piezoelectric accelerometers for ultrahigh temperature application

High temperature sensors are of major importance to aerospace and energy related industries. In this letter, a high temperature monolithic compression-mode piezoelectric accelerometer was fabricated using YCa4O(BO3)(3) (YCOB) single crystals. The performance of the sensor was tested as function of temperature up to 1000 degrees C and over a frequency range of 100-600 Hz. The accelerometer prototype was found to possess sensitivity of 2.4 +/- 0.4 pC/g, across the measured temperature and frequency range, indicating a low temperature coefficient. Furthermore, the sensor exhibited good stability over an extended dwell time at 900 degrees C, demonstrating that YCOB piezoelectric accelerometers are promising candidates for high temperature sensing applications.