Design of a high sensitivity capacitive force sensor

Kar Hang Chu; James K. Mills; William L. Cleghorn

doi:10.1109/NANO.2007.4601134

Design of a high sensitivity capacitive force sensor

Kar Hang Chu, James K. Mills, William L. Cleghorn

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceeding › Conference article published in proceeding or book › Academic research › peer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper presents the design and development of a MEMS based, capacitive sensor for micro-force measurement. The sensor has an overall dimension of 3600 μm × 1000 μm × 10 μm and was fabricated using the Micragem fabrication process. A displacement reduction mechanism is incorporated in this sensor design to increase the sensitivity of the sensor. Analysis from Finite Element software, COMSOL, confirms that a 10:1 displacement reduction ratio is achievable with this mechanism. Simulation results show that the sensor is capable of measuring a maximum force input of 11 milli-Newton, resulting from a 20-μm displacement on the sensing structure. A 6-DOF manipulator and an evaluation board were used to experimentally verify the performance the sensor. Experimental results show that a capacitance change of approximately 175 to 200 fF can be observed from a 20-μm displacement.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2007 7th IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology - IEEE-NANO 2007, Proceedings
Pages	29-33
Number of pages	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/NANO.2007.4601134
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2007
Externally published	Yes
Event	2007 7th IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology - IEEE-NANO 2007 - Hong Kong, Hong Kong Duration: 2 Aug 2007 → 5 Aug 2007

Conference

Conference	2007 7th IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology - IEEE-NANO 2007
Country/Territory	Hong Kong
City	Hong Kong
Period	2/08/07 → 5/08/07

Keywords

Capacitive
Displacement reduction mechanism
Force sensor
MEMS
Micragem

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

More information

10.1109/NANO.2007.4601134

Cite this

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abstract = "This paper presents the design and development of a MEMS based, capacitive sensor for micro-force measurement. The sensor has an overall dimension of 3600 μm × 1000 μm × 10 μm and was fabricated using the Micragem fabrication process. A displacement reduction mechanism is incorporated in this sensor design to increase the sensitivity of the sensor. Analysis from Finite Element software, COMSOL, confirms that a 10:1 displacement reduction ratio is achievable with this mechanism. Simulation results show that the sensor is capable of measuring a maximum force input of 11 milli-Newton, resulting from a 20-μm displacement on the sensing structure. A 6-DOF manipulator and an evaluation board were used to experimentally verify the performance the sensor. Experimental results show that a capacitance change of approximately 175 to 200 fF can be observed from a 20-μm displacement.",

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Design of a high sensitivity capacitive force sensor

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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