Active solid-state devices (e.g. – transistors – solid-state diode – Responsive to non-electrical signal – Physical deformation
Patent
1997-09-08
2000-10-10
Crane, Sara
Active solid-state devices (e.g., transistors, solid-state diode
Responsive to non-electrical signal
Physical deformation
73491, 7351415, 337 70, 337298, H01L 2982
Patent
active
061304646
ABSTRACT:
A surface micromachined microaccelerometer includes a substrate which has a surface plane, and a cantilever formed on the substrate with a fixed end and a free end, the fixed end being anchored to the substrate. The cantilever includes a mass fixed along the length of the cantilever. A cooperating device reads out the occurrence of an acceleration event when the free end of the cantilever has moved to a predetermined position. The cooperating device may be fixed or an opposing co-aligned cantilever structure. In a first embodiment, the cooperating device takes the form of a fixed structure having slots in which the tip of the cantilever is selectively retained. A further embodiment configures the cooperating device as an overlapping opposed cantilever. A further feature of the invention enables a reset function of a latched cantilever and comprises a pair of layers which when energized cause a cantilever to be suitably deflected so as to return from the latched state back to the unlatched state.
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J. Micromech. Microeng., 2 (1992) 10-13, D. R. Ciarlo, "A Latching Accelerometer Fabricated by the Anisotropic Etching of (110) Oriented Silicon Wafers".
The 8th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors and Actuators and Eurosensors IX, Jun. 25-29, 1995, vol. 1, pp. 417-420, Seung S. Lee et al., "Self-Excited Piezoelectric Cantilever Oscillators".
Crane Sara
Roxburgh Ltd.
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