Abstract: A novel MEMS accelerometer with grid strip capacitors is developed. The mechanical and electrical noise can be reduced greatly for the novel structure design. ANSOFT-Maxwell software was used to analyze the fringing electric field of the grid strip structure and its effects on the designed accelerometer. The effects of the width, thickness and overlapping width of the grid strip on the sensing capacitance are analyzed by using the ANSOFT-Maxwell software. The results show that the parameters have little effect on the characteristics of the presented accelerometer. The designed accelerometer was fabricated based on deep RIE and silicon–glass bonding processes. The preliminary tested sensitivities are 0.53 pF/g and 0.49 pF/g in the x and y axis directions, respectively. A resonator with grid strip structure was also fabricated whose tested quality factor is 514 in air, which proves that the grid strip structure can reduce mechanical noise.

Key words: MEMS,  biaxial accelerometer,  capacitor fringe effect,  slide-film damping