Development of environmentally robust and thermally stable Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) based accelerometer for automotive applications

该合作伙伴关系的目标是为汽车应用开发具有成本效益、稳定且抗冲击的微加速度计。基于微机电系统（MEMS）的加速度计是可以检测小的惯性运动的小型传感器。它们广泛应用于汽车，如稳定性控制，安全气囊部署和碰撞检测。汽车应用要求加速度计在振动、冲击、温度和热循环等相当恶劣的环境中工作。尽管低成本MEMS加速度计的数量激增，但它们仍然存在温度稳定性低、噪声和抗冲击性差等问题。随着车辆自动化和电动化的不断发展，对精确、强大但具有成本效益的传感器的需求也在不断增长。MEMS加速度计使用谐振硅质量作为感测元件。硅基MEMS谐振器的主要问题是其固有的低热稳定性。目前，没有固定的设计方法可用于提高具有成本效益的MEMS加速度计的稳定性和抗冲击性。为了克服上述局限性，本研究旨在采用一种突破性的方法，即利用坚固的机械材料与新型传感器设计相结合，以实现热稳定性和冲击稳定性，并降低成本。这项NSERC联盟拨款将是合作伙伴行业与温莎大学之间的首次合作，旨在开发一种基于MEMS的强大加速度计，以实现温度和冲击稳定性。它还有望在其他类似的汽车惯性传感器中产生涟漪反应，包括陀螺仪和惯性测量单元。这将给加拿大人带来重大利益，因为它将直接帮助创新自主导航这一新兴领域急需的高性能和成本效益高的微型传感器系统，预计将提高加拿大在这一领域的竞争力。这将使加拿大在高精度和稳定的加速度传感器开发的全球竞技场中发挥领导作用。

The goal of this partnership is to develop a cost effective, stable and shock immune micro accelerometers for automotive applications. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based accelerometers are small sensors that can detect small inertial movements. They are widely used in automotive such as for stability control, air-bag deployment and crash detection. Automotive applications require accelerometers to work in quite harsh environment involving vibration, shock, temperature, and thermal cycling. Despite the surge in low-cost MEMS accelerometers, they still suffer from low temperature stability, noise and shock immunity. With the ever-increasing thrust for autonomy and electrification of vehicles the demand for precision, robust but cost-effective sensors is growing. MEMS accelerometers use a resonating silicon mass as the sensing element. The major issue with the silicon-based MEMS resonator is its inherent low thermal stability. Currently, there is no fixed design approach available to enhance the stability and shock immunity in cost-effective MEMS accelerometers. To overcome the above-mentioned limitations, this research aims to take a ground-breaking approach by utilizing robust mechanical materials combined with novel sensor design to achieve thermal and shock stability as well as lower the cost. This NSERC Alliance grant will be a first-time collaboration between the partner industries and the University of Windsor to develop a robust MEMS based accelerometer for temperature and shock stability. It is also expected to create a ripple effect in other similar automotive inertial sensors including gyroscopes and inertial measurement units. There will be major benefits to Canadians as it will directly assist the innovation of much-needed high-performance and cost-effective micro-sensor systems in the emerging area of autonomous navigation, and it is expected to increase Canada's competitiveness in this area. It will put Canada in a leadership role in the global arena in the high precision and stable acceleration sensor development.