Patent attributes
Single chip 3-axis thermal accelerometer devices include a substrate, at least one cavity etched in the substrate, a fluid disposed in the cavity, a bridge structure suspended over an opening of the cavity, and a plurality of heater elements and temperature sensing elements disposed on the bridge structure. The substrate has a substantially planar surface defined by X and Y coordinate axes, and the bridge structure is suspended over the opening of the cavity in the X-Y plane. In one embodiment, the bridge structure is configured to position at least two of the temperature sensing elements out of the X-Y plane. The heater and temperature sensing elements are disposed on the bridge structure in optimized arrangements for providing reduced temperature coefficients and for producing output voltages having reduced DC offset and drift.
