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 KXPA4 series is designed to provide a high signal-to-noise ratio with excellent performance over temperature. These sensors can accept supply voltages between 2.7V 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, three-channel multiplexer. The sense element design utilizes common mode cancellation to decrease errors from process variation and environmental stress.
