Thermal drift analysis using a multiphysics model of bulk silicon MEMS capacitive accelerometer

Abstract An interpretation of the thermal drift of the bulk silicon MEMS capacitive accelerometer using multiphysics analysis is proposed in this paper. Stress, strain, electrostatics, thermal and structural interactions are simulated based on the finite element method. The thermal drift is generated by both the stiffness asymmetry of the U-springs of the structure and relative displacement caused by the mismatch in thermal expansion coefficients between the Pyrex glass substrate and heavily boron-doped silicon structure, neither of which is dispensable. Although the layout design is symmetrical, the asymmetric widths of the U-springs, which cause stiffness asymmetry, are observed by scanning electron microscopy. To achieve a fast and feasible simulation, we divide the model into two components with different configurations. During the simulation, boundary conditions are carefully set up according to the fabrication process. A series of experiments is designed to verify the result, including a temperature experiment from −40 to 100 °C and DC voltage polarity experiment. To verify the conclusion, a new layout design that gradually increases the width of the U-springs without changing any other dimension is simulated, fabricated, and tested. The simulation and experiment results are compared and discussed.