Marc Pernice

A New Quartz Monolithic Differential Vibrating Beam Accelerometer

This paper deals with a new monolithic differential quartz Vibrating Beam Accelerometers (VBA), called VIASC. The concept of this accelerometer includes the three major insulation requirements of the beams in the same quartz monolithic structure: insulation of the beams against thermal stresses, insulation of the beam vibrations and insulation between the two beams. In this paper, the concept of this accelerometer and its manufacturing process by chemical etching are presented. Preliminary results, which confirm the relevance of the VIASC concept, are given and future work on the sensing element is discussed. Two VIASC developments are envisaged: an accurate VIASC version compatible with inertial navigation requirements and a miniaturized version adapted to guidance applications.

The fairy world of quartz vibrating MEMS

Quartz crystal has been an essential material for time and frequency and radio-frequency applications during the 20th century. Quartz is always an unmatched material at the beginning of the 21st century, and hold 80 % of oscillators & RF market which represent today 17 billions market with a 10 % growth per year. This paper describes other more confidential applications - the vibrating inertial MEMS - where the quartz crystal plays also a major role. Clearly, quartz crystal has still a future in these high added value applications, and for a long time.