These high-performance silicon micromachined linear accelerometers
and inclinometers consist of a sensor element and an ASIC packaged
in a 5x5x1.2mm Dual Flat No-lead (DFN). The sensor element is fabricated
from single-crystal silicon with proprietary Deep Reactive Ion Etching
(DRIE) processes, and is protected from the environment by a hermetically-sealed
silicon cap at the wafer level.
The KXD94 is a silicon micromachined accelerometer with a full-scale
output range of ±5g (±49 m/s2). The sense element is fabricated
using Kionix’s proprietary plasma micromachining process technology.
Acceleration sensing is based on the principle of a differential
capacitance arising from acceleration-induced motion of the sense
element, which further utilizes common mode cancellation to decrease
errors from process variation, temperature, and environmental stress.
The sense element is hermetically sealed at the wafer level by bonding
a second silicon lid wafer to the device using a glass frit. A separate
ASIC device packaged with the sense element provides signal conditioning
and self-test. The accelerometer is delivered in a 5 x 5 x 1.2 mm
DFN plastic package operating from a 4.75 – 5.25V DC supply.
