Single-chip 3D electric field microsensor

doi:10.1007/s11465-017-0454-x

Front. Mech. Eng.

2017, Vol. 12

Issue (4) : 581-590 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11465-017-0454-x

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Single-chip 3D electric field microsensor

Biyun LING^1,², Yu WANG^1,², Chunrong PENG¹, Bing LI^1,², Zhaozhi CHU^1,², Bin LI^1,², Shanhong XIA¹(

)

¹. State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
². University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

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Abstract

This paper presents a single-chip 3D electric field microsensor, in which a sensing element is set at the center to detect the Z-axis component of an electrostatic field. Two pairs of sensing elements with the same structure are arranged in a cross-like configuration to measure the X- and Y-axis electrostatic field components. An in-plane rotary mechanism is used in the microsensor to detect the X-, Y-, and Z-axis electrostatic field components simultaneously. The proposed microsensor is compact and presents high integration. The microsensor is fabricated through a MetalMUMPS process. Experimental results show that in the range of 0–50 kV/m, the linearity errors of the microsensor are within 5.5%, and the total measurement errors of the three electrostatic field components are less than 14.04%.

Keywords electric field microsensor three-dimensional single-chip in-plane rotation

Corresponding Author(s): Shanhong XIA

Just Accepted Date: 07 June 2017 Online First Date: 27 July 2017 Issue Date: 31 October 2017

Cite this article:

Biyun LING,Yu WANG,Chunrong PENG, et al. Single-chip 3D electric field microsensor[J]. Front. Mech. Eng., 2017, 12(4): 581-590.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fme/EN/10.1007/s11465-017-0454-x
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fme/EN/Y2017/V12/I4/581

Fig.1 Schematic of the 3D electric field microsensor

Fig.2 Simulation model for the response of the proposed microsensor to a 3D electrostatic field with different directions

Fig.3 Simulation results of the proposed microsensor’s response to the 3D electrostatic field with different directions. (a) Induced charge along each sensing axis with respect to ϕ when q is 30°; (b) induced charge along each sensing axis with respect to q when ϕ is 135°

Fig.4 Schematic of strip-type electrodes

Fig.5 Simulation results for the parameters of strip-type electrodes. (a) Induced charge on the sensing electrode versus w_g₁ with different w_sn values; peak-to-peak values of induced charge on the sensing electrode (b) in vibration versus w_sn with different w_sh values; (c) in vibration versus w_g1 with different w_T values; (d) peak-to-peak value of induced charge per unit length on the sensing electrode in vibration versus w_T

Tab.1 Parameters of strip-type electrodes

Fig.6 Main steps of the MetalMUMPS process

Fig.7 SEM photos of the electric field microsensor

Fig.8 Schematic of the testing circuit of the 3D electric field microsensor. V_x, V_y, and V_z are the outputs of the X-, Y-, and Z-axis sensing components after testing

Fig.9 Schematic of the testing system

Fig.10 Uniaxial electrostatic field calibration for the proposed sensor. (a) X-axis; (b) Y-axis; (c) Z-axis

Tab.2 Sensitivities and linearities of the X-, Y- and Z-axis sensing components

Tab.3 Outputs of the sensor and calculated electric fields

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