MOEMS uniaxial accelerometer based on EpoClad/EpoCore photoresists with built-in fiber clamp

Abstract

In this paper, a novel polymer MOEMS (micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems) accelerometer is reported. Low cost, photopatternable epoxies, EpoClad and EpoCore, are lithographically patterned through a 2 masks process to form this accelerometer in a simple and robust fabrication process. EpoClad is used for the cladding layer and EpoCore for the waveguides, fiber optic clamps and the seismic mass. Fiber optic clamping structures are presented that can be fabricated without extra process steps, and still assure both in-plane and out-of-plane clamping. The acceleration sensing principle is based on light intensity modulation by the seismic mass's position. A laser diode light source and a photodiode, connected to the sensor core through optical fibers, are used to extract the intensity variation as a function of acceleration. A vibration test was conducted to evaluate the performance of this MOEMS accelerometer.