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 KXP94 series is designed to provide a high signal-to-noise
ratio with excellent performance over temperature. These sensors
can accept supply voltages between 2.5V and 5.25V. Sensitivity is
factory programmable allowing customization for applications requiring
from ±1.5g to ±6.0g ranges. Sensor bandwidth is user-definable.
The sensor element functions on the principle of differential
capacitance. Acceleration causes displacement of a silicon structure
resulting in a change in capacitance. An ASIC, using a standard
CMOS manufacturing process, detects and transforms changes in capacitance
into an analog output voltage, which is proportional to acceleration.
The analog output is also accessed through an on-board 4-channel
multiplexer. The sense element design utilizes common mode cancellation
to decrease errors from process variation and environmental stress.