A co-fired LTCC–PZT monomorph bridge type acceleration sensor

• Integrated, co-fired LTCC–PZT acceleration sensor modeled and manufactured.
• High sensitivity up to 6 mV/g without amplification.
• High linearity of sensitivity.
• Highly tunable resonance frequency of accelerometers by application-specific design of the structure.

This paper presents an integrated piezoelectric accelerometer embedded in Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC). The PZT based sensing element, passive layer and seismic mass were integrated through co-firing with multilayer ceramic tapes. Resonance, frequency and sensitivity measurements were made for two different seismic masses. Results show sensitivity up to 6 mV/g without signal amplification, high linearity of output signal and a resonance frequency of 32.7 kHz. Furthermore, the sensor can easily be tailored to specific applications through adjustment of the seismic mass and stiffness of the sensing beams by modification of their dimensions. Compared to other similar structures, the LTCC–PZT accelerometer exhibited a comparable resonance frequency and outstanding sensitivity, even without signal processing. The presented method also enables the manufacture of structures with acceleration sensing on multiple axes and embedded electronics for a compact system-in-package.