An Angular Accelerometer with High Sensitivity and Low Crosstalk Utilizing a Piezoresistive Cantilever and Spiral Liquid Channels

This article describes an angular accelerometer with high sensitivity and low crosstalk that uses a MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) piezoresistive cantilever and spiral liquid channels. The fabricated device is composed of two spiral channels aligned in parallel with the piezoresistive cantilever placed in between the channels. When angular acceleration is applied, the liquid inside the spiral channels produces an inertial force. This inertial force generates a pressure difference between the spiral channels, and that difference is measured by a piezoresistive cantilever with a high resolution of 0.01 Pa. The pressure difference causes deformation of the piezoresistive cantilever which results in resistance change. Finally, the applied angular acceleration can be calculated from the resistance change. By increasing the number of turns of the spiral channel, both high sensitivity and low crosstalk from the nontarget axis can be achieved. Our proposed device with 12.5 turns achieved a sensitivity of 0.72 mV/(rad/s2) and crosstalk of less than 2%.