Design, Fabrication and Testing of the First 3D-Printed and Wet Metallized z-Axis Accelerometer

In this work the design, fabrication and testing of the first 3D-printed and wet metallized capacitive z-axis accelerometer with a volume of 3.4 cm × 8 mm × 2.5 mm is presented. Preliminary results well match the modelling, both in terms of electromechanical parameters and of measured sensitivity, t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Caterina Credi, Valentina Zega, Roberto Bernasconi, Giacomo Langfelder, Alfredo Cigada, Luca Magagnin, Marinella Levi, Alberto Corigliano
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2017-08-01
Series:Proceedings
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/1/4/614
Description
Summary:In this work the design, fabrication and testing of the first 3D-printed and wet metallized capacitive z-axis accelerometer with a volume of 3.4 cm × 8 mm × 2.5 mm is presented. Preliminary results well match the modelling, both in terms of electromechanical parameters and of measured sensitivity, thus validating the proposed concept and fabrication process. With a spring thickness of 300 µm and a gap size of 200 µm for capacitive read-out, the presented device and the shown results can be considered as the first step toward 3D-printed MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) inertial sensors.
ISSN:2504-3900