Acceleration sensor
AssigneeDenso Corporation
InventorsMinekazu Sakai, Kiyomasa Sugimoto
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an acceleration sensor, a semiconductor layer is provided with a rod-shaped weight portion that passes through a center of a frame portion, extends in a second direction, and is connected to the frame portion through a first beam portion. A first-direction movable electrode and a second-direction movable electrode are provided on the weight portion. According to the above configuration, because a mass of the first- and second-direction movable electrodes can be applied to the vicinity of a center of the frame portion, and a rotational moment can be reduced. Thus, detection accuracy can be restrained from being reduced.
Claims8
An acceleration sensor comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate that has a support substrate and a semiconductor layer stacked on the support substrate;
- a first-direction movable electrode that is disposed in the semiconductor layer, and extends in a direction parallel to a second direction, wherein a direction included in a plane of the semiconductor layer is referred to as a first direction, and the second direction is included in the plane of the semiconductor layer and is orthogonal to the first direction;
- a second-direction movable electrode that is disposed in the semiconductor layer, and extends in a direction parallel to the first direction;
- a frame portion that is disposed in the semiconductor layer;
- a first beam portion that is disposed in the semiconductor layer and provided on the frame portion, and is displaced in the second direction when receiving an acceleration including a component in the second direction;
- a second beam portion that is disposed in the semiconductor layer and provided on the frame portion, and is displaced in the first direction when receiving an acceleration including a component in the first direction;
- an anchor portion that supports the frame portion through the second beam portion;
- a first-direction fixed electrode that is disposed in the semiconductor layer, and arranged to face the first-direction movable electrode;
- and
- a second-direction fixed electrode that is disposed in the semiconductor layer, and arranged to face the second-direction movable electrode, wherein
- the semiconductor layer is provided with a rod-shaped weight portion that passes through a center of the frame portion, extends in the second direction, and is connected to the frame portion through the first beam portion, and
- the first-direction movable electrode and the second-direction movable electrode are provided on the weight portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.