This paper reports the evaluation results of the mechanical structures of MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems) sensor implemented in the integrated MEMS inertial sensor for a wide sensing range from below 0.1 G to 20 G (1 G = 9.8 m/s^2). To investigate the mechanical tolerance, a maximum target acceleration of 20G was applied to the sub-1G sensor which had the heaviest proof mass of all that sensors had. The structure stability of Ti/Au multi-layered structures was also examined by using Ti/Au micro cantilevers. The results showed that the stoppers effectively functioned to prevent the proof mass and the springs from self-destruction, and that the stability of Ti/Au structures increased with an increase in width. Those results suggest that the proposed stopper and spring structures could be promising to realize MEMS sensors.

This paper reports the evaluation results of the mechanical structures of MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems) sensor implemented in the integrated MEMS inertial sensor for a wide sensing range from below 0.1 G to 20 G (1 G = 9.8 m/s^2). To investigate the mechanical tolerance, a maximum target acceleration of 20G was applied to the sub-1G sensor which had the heaviest proof mass of all that sensors had. The structure stability of Ti/Au multi-layered structures was also examined by using Ti/Au micro cantilevers. The results showed that the stoppers effectively functioned to prevent the proof mass and the springs from self-destruction, and that the stability of Ti/Au structures increased with an increase in width. Those results suggest that the proposed stopper and spring structures could be promising to realize MEMS sensors.