Performance Analysis of a Convection-Based Tilt Sensor

Abstract

This paper presents fabrication sequence and performance improving methods for convection-based tilt sensor. Also a packaging method to minimize the effect of environmental temperature fluctuation is proposed. Both electrolytic solution-based and air convection-based tilt sensors realized using micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) technology have been previously reported by our research group. Although the MEMS-based electrolytic tilt sensor shows merited characteristics, such as wider operating tilt range, lower cost and compactness, compared to commercialized conventional electrolytic tilt sensors, it still suffers from metal electrode corrosion, electrolyte deterioration, surface tension of the electrolyte, and difficulty in packaging. In order to avoid those demerits, convective tilt sensor using air medium instead of electrolytic solution has been proposed and its fundamental performances has also been demonstrated in the previous works. In this paper, the effect of air medium condition on sensitivity of proposed convective tilt sensor has been investigated. In addition, a packaging method utilizing the Peltier device is presented to minimize environmental thermal effect without additional temperature compensation circuit. It is expected that this technique can be similarly applied to improve the performance and reliability of other sensors using gas media.