Ralf Schellin

A novel silicon surface micromachining angle sensor

A novel angle sensor is reported: in contrast to other angle detection sensors, this sensor is completely based on silicon surface micromachining technology. Hence, its fabrication is fully compatible with the fabrication of other surface micromachined sensors, like accelerometers, yaw rate sensors, etc. The principle of operation of this sensor is based on the well-known Lorentz force in combination with a differential capacitance sensing technique yielding an accurate, contactless, and therefore, wear-free angle sensor.

A precise and contactless angle detection sensor using surface micromachining technology

A new surface micromachined silicon sensor for highly accurate angle detection is presented. The principle of transduction is based on the Lorentz force in combination with a differential capacitance sensing technique. The transducer may also serve as a reliable position and magnetic field sensor. In contrast to other angle detection sensors, this sensor is completely based on surface micromachining technology. The fabrication of the transducer is therefore fully compatible to the fabrication of other surface micromachined sensors, like accelerometers, yaw rate sensors, etc. This is a very important feature regarding mass production, specially in the automotive industry.

Surface micromachined bridge configurations for accurate angle measurements

This paper reports on new sensing elements and the corresponding read-out circuit of a novel silicon surface micromachined angle sensor. Different bridge configurations-half and full bridges-comprising up to four variable capacitors were designed and characterized. The combination of such array-like arrangements and further improved sensing elements lead to a significant increase of performance. In this paper modeling, the evaluation circuit, and experimental results of different bridge configurations are presented.