Microsystem Technologies (2021) 27:2925–2934

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-021-05217-0 (0123456789().,-volV)(0123456789().
,- volV)

TECHNICAL PAPER

Maskless lithography: an approach to SU-8 based sensitive and high-g

Z-axis polymer MEMS accelerometer
Mandeep Jangra1,2 • Dhairya Singh Arya1,3 • Robin Khosla1,4,5 • Satinder K. Sharma1,6

Received: 13 September 2020 / Accepted: 3 April 2021 / Published online: 29 April 2021
Ó The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021

Abstract
In this work, Z-axis MEMS accelerometers are investigated with variation in spring topography. The serpentine spring
structure demonstrated the optimum sensitivity of MEMS accelerometers due to a large number of beams that reduce the
spring constant considerably. The augmented serpentine spring MEMS accelerometers are simulated for SU-8, PolySi,
Si3N4, and SiC-based primary structural materials. SU-8 based MEMS accelerometer shows high sensitivity and cost-
effective fabrication process suitable for industry. The reliability of the microaccelerometers is investigated by the stress
analysis. The computation result of designed accelerometers exhibited a linear response up to ± 50 g of the input value of
acceleration. For the integration with Si-technology, SU-8 microaccelerometer with serpentine spring structure is fabri-
cated using facile maskless lithography based grayscale process technology. The sensitivity is measured by capacitance
variation with Z-axis free falls. The frequency response and spring constant of fabricated SU-8 based Z-axis MEMS
accelerometer is investigated by Laser Doppler Vibrometer and nanoindentation technique, respectively. The demonstrated
SU-8 serpentine spring, highly sensitive, facile and low-cost process technology-based Z-axis accelerometer is suitable for
navigation, space, and medical applications.

1 Introduction

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometers

& Satinder K. Sharma are widely adopted in automotive, robotics, consumer,
satinder@iitmandi.ac.in biomedical, military, and space applications (Yazdi et al.
Dhairya Singh Arya 1998; Alvin Barlian et al. 2009). MEMS accelerometers
dhairya_arya@yahoo.in are primarily classified into capacitive, piezoelectric, and
Robin Khosla piezoresistive accelerometers based on their transduction
robin@ece.nits.ac.in mechanism (Narasimhan et al. 2015; Roy and Bhat-
1
tacharyya 2015; Kobayashi et al. 2011; Zhou et al. 2015).
School of Computing and Electrical Engineering (SCEE),
From these, the capacitive MEMS accelerometers have
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Mandi, Mandi,
Himachal Pradesh 175005, India attracted immense attention owing to high resolution,
2 temperature, long-term stability, and simple batch fabri-
Present Address: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),
Roorkee, India cation process technology (Zhou et al. 2015). MEMS
3 accelerometers measure the capacitance change between a
Present Address: Centre for Applied Research in Electronics
(CARE), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi 110016, stationary electrode fixed to the substrate and a movable
India electrode on a suspended proof mass (Kumar et al. 2016).
4
Present Address: Institut für Halbleitertechnik, Universität Additionally, the capacitive sensing scheme is also suit-
Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 47, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany able for standard close loop operation, where electrostatic
5
Present Address: Department of Electronics and feedback is used. Presently, most of the fabrication inter-
Communication Engineering (ECE), National Institute of facing techniques are in general more accessible for the
Technology (NIT), Silchar, Assam 788010, India high-resolution conversion of analog to digital domain,
6
Present Address: School of Computing and Electrical which is by and large electromechanical Sigma-Delta
Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, Modulators (RDM) (Chen et al. 2016).
Himachal Pradesh 175005, India

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2926 Microsystem Technologies (2021) 27:2925–2934

An ideal high-performance MEMS accelerometer mechanics and solid mechanics physics are used for the
requires high sensitivity, large bandwidth, reasonable FEM simulations. Whereas for the validation of optimized
working range as per the application, and low-cost highly sensitive Z-axis MEMS accelerometer, SU-8 based
straightforward fabrication process technology (Michel Z-axis MEMS accelerometer is fabricated by using a facile
2004). Numerous MEMS accelerometer designs are and low-cost maskless lithography-based grayscale process
investigated in literature (Fan et al. 2020; Ahmed et al. technology. The frequency response of fabricated SU-8
2020; Taghavi et al. 2019; Liu et al. 2015; Suzuki and Tai based Z-axis MEMS accelerometer with serpentine spring
2006; Hurst et al. 2015; Llobera et al. 2007; Carreno et al. structure is investigated by Laser Doppler Vibrometer
2013; Xie and Fedder 2000; Zhao et al. 2007; Qu et al. (LDV) of Polytech MSA-500. The young’s modulus of
2008; Paul et al. 2008; Milligan et al. 2011; Mohamad fabricated SU-8 microaccelerometer is investigated by the
2010; Roylance and Angell 1979), but with limited sensi- nanoindentation technique of Hysitron TI 950, TriboIn-
tivity, complicated process, and high fabrication cost. denter using a Berkovich diamond indenter tip.
Therefore, other potential design structures for MEMS
accelerometers are worthy of investigation. Besides this,
the optimum performance of a MEMS accelerometer is 2 Materials and methods
also extensively dependent on the structural material of the
accelerometer. In literature, PolySi, Si3N4, SU8, and SiC- 2.1 Simulation
based structural materials are investigated up to a certain
extent, but with low sensitivity and high cost due to use of Device structure and design used for Finite Element
conventional expensive micromachining process technol- modelling is shown in Fig. 1a. Proof mass dimensions (L 9
ogy (Kwon and Park 1998; Lapadatu et al. 1996; Jeong and W 9 H) were assumed to be 1500 lm 9 1500 lm 9 20
Wang 2004; Rajgopal et al. 2009; Jiang and Cheung 2009; lm for high sensitivity at reasonable dimensions. A
Lawes 2007). In fact, polymer-based MEMS are depicted 100 nm thin layer of aluminium over moveable hanging
using grayscale lithography, or SU-8 based MEMS are proof mass act as upper capacitive electrode for MEMS
portrayed using complex and expensive micromachining accelerometer. A thin layer of aluminium of same dimen-
processes. To the best of author’s knowledge SU-8 based sions on the substrate is considered for lower electrode so
Z-axis MEMS accelerometers are not demonstrated with that upper electrode overlaps the lower electrode. Since,
active metal electrodes for electrostatic actuation (Madou
1997; Kim and Meng 2016).
Generally, Capacitive MEMS accelerometers are single
or dual-axis. Therefore, two or three accelerometers are
integrated for three-dimensional sensing of acceleration,
which results in a large area and high cost. The perfor-
mance of such accelerometers is limited due to the diffi-
culty in the fabrication of the capacitor for measuring out-
of-plane movement (Z-axis) as compared to the capacitor
for measuring in-plane movement (XY-axis) (Yang et al.
2004; Monajemi and Ayazi 2006). Moreover, these
accelerometers have performance limitations due to thin-
film structures and involve a complicated fabrication pro-
cess. Therefore, the investigation of high-performance
Z-axis microaccelerometers is highly anticipated (Qu et al.
2004).
In this paper, the Z-axis MEMS accelerometers are
designed and simulated with serpentine spring topology
using COMSOL 5.4 as FEM (Finite Element Modelling)
tool. Designed MEMS accelerometer is examined with
variation in structural materials, i.e., SU-8, PolySi, Si3N4,
and SiC. Here, 50 g acceleration was used for comparison
of different proof mass materials to ensure the reliability of Fig. 1 a Micro accelerometer deign with serpentine spring topology,
upper electrode has same dimensions as lower electrode so it overlaps
the devices so that the stress generated doesn’t exceed the
completely, b detailed dimensions are marked in figure to clarify the
yield point. The stress analysis of the accelerometer is dimensions of the design. Serpentine spring are wider near anchor and
presented at ± 50 g. COMSOL Multiphysics with Electro- proof mass connection.

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Microsystem Technologies (2021) 27:2925–2934 2927

Serpentine spring act as more willing to comply than a (* 100 rpm) followed by DI rinse, IPA, DI rinse and N2
fixed straight beams spring of the same length. Serpentine dry (Soni et al. 2016). Subsequently, the SU-8 2025 pho-
spring topology has very high displacement sensitivity, so toresist (MicroChem) was spin-coated on the samples at
it is considered for simulation and comparative study of 1000 rpm for 10 s, followed by soft bake from RT to 95 °C
structural materials. It must be noted that in the serpentine for 10 min and cooled down to RT. After soft bake, the
spring structure the proof mass shows buckling. Thus, to samples were again exposed to maskless lithography with
minimize buckling in serpentine spring topology, the part level-to-level exposure using Level-2 binary Soft Mask to
of spring connected to anchor and proof mass is kept wider create anchor points (Fig. 2d) and reliably control the gap
which also enhances mechanical reliability of the structure, between the proof mass and the bottom electrode of final
and its corresponding dimensions are shown in Fig. 1b. MEMS Structure. This is followed by PEB from RT to
105 °C for 10 min and cooled down to RT, to crosslink the
2.2 Experimental exposed SU-8 anchor points and development for 1 min
trailed by IPA rinse and N2 dry. The samples are then hard-
2.2.1 Fabrication Process baked at 120 °C for * 20 min to harden the anchor points.
Further, the SU-8 2025 photoresist was spin-coated again
The fabrication of MEMS microstructures using conven- on the samples at 1000 rpm for 10 s, followed by soft bake
tional fabrication methods such as bulk and surface from RT to 70 °C for 10 min and cooled down to RT.
micromachining is a complicated and time-consuming Here, an optimum temperature of 70 °C was used to
process. In this work, one step maskless grayscale lithog- facilitate the surface micromachining in the development
raphy is used for the fabrication of SU-8 MEMS process itself. Higher temperatures result in exertion in the
accelerometer, which doesn’t require the additional cost of development process, whereas lower temperatures affect
physical masks. Instead, Soft masks are made using the Grayscale exposure to be used in the next step. Sub-
Microsoft ‘‘MS Paint’’ application, which gives the flexi- sequently, the samples were exposed to maskless grayscale
bility of fabricating 3D structures using a grayscale image lithography using serpentine spring structure Grayscale
with ease and at low cost (Rammohan et al. 2011). Level-3 Soft Mask (Fig. 2e). Here, grayscale intensity of 0,
Figure 2. shows the process flow used for fabrication of 130, and 255 was used for unexposed, partially exposed
the Z-axis SU-8 microaccelerometer with serpentine spring (hanging structure), and fully exposed (anchor points),
structure. Initially, p-Si \ 100 [ substrates were cleaned respectively. This is again followed by PEB from RT to
with standard Radio Corporation of America (RCA) 105 °C for 10 min and cooled down to RT, to harden/
cleaning followed by N2 dry, dehydration bake at 200 °C crosslink the exposed SU8 region. After this, SU8 devel-
for 5 min, and cooled down to room temperature. Subse- oper was used for the development of SU-8 patterns
quently, Al thin film (* 100 nm) was deposited using a (Fig. 2f) for * 2 h trailed by IPA rinse. The samples are
thermal evaporator at an ultrahigh vacuum then dried in a vacuum desiccator to avoid stiction of proof
of * 3 9 10–6 mbar (Fig. 2a). Further, SU8-2002 (Mi- mass to the bottom electrode. Further, for hard bake of the
croChem) photoresist was spincoated using the two-step proof mass, the samples are annealed in a three-zone tube
method: (i) spreading cycle at 500 rpm for 10 s, and (ii) furnace at * 150 °C for * 20 min to avoid buckling of
spinning cycle at 3000 rpm for 20 s. After this, the samples proof mass due to thermal gradient. Ensuing this, the poly-
were soft-baked from room temperature (RT) to 95 °C for methyl-methaacrylate (PMMA) photoresist is coated on the
10 min to evaporate the solvent and then cooled back to samples as a sacrificial layer such that it stays below the
RT. After soft bake, the samples were exposed to maskless proof mass and enables lift-off in further steps (Fig. 2g).
lithography of Intelligent Micro Patterning SF-100 using Again, Al thin films (* 100 nm) were deposited using
Level-1 binary soft mask (Fig. 2b) followed by post-ex- thermal evaporator at an ultrahigh vacuum
posure bake (PEB) from RT to 105 °C for 10 min and of * 3 9 10–6 mbar to form the top electrodes (Fig. 2h).
cooled down to RT, to harden/crosslink the exposed SU-8 Finally, for Lift-off, the samples were dipped in acetone
region. After this, SU-8 developer (MicroChem) was used for * 20–30 min to complete the Z-axis SU-8 microac-
for the development of SU-8 patterns for 1 min trailed by celerometer (Fig. 2(i)) with serpentine spring structure
IPA rinse and N2 dry. To pattern the bottom Al contact (Fig. 3) followed by DI, IPA, DI Rinses, and dried in a
(Fig. 2c) the samples were etched using standard Al etch- vacuum desiccator. Further to avoid stiction during lift-off
ant (DI water (1): Acetic Acid (2): Nitric Acid (2): process one may use aligned shadow mask for the forma-
Orthophosphoric acid (10)) at 35 °C for 10–15 min with tion of top aluminium electrode.
constant stirring (* 100 rpm) followed by DI rinse, N2 Figure 3 shows the side view of the fabricated SU-8
dry. After this, SU-8 is stripped in n-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone microaccelerometer with serpentine spring structure
(NMP), at 75 °C for * 45 min with 14 constant stirring showing the bottom electrode, spring, and proof mass.

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2928 Microsystem Technologies (2021) 27:2925–2934

Fig. 2 Process Flow for the fabrication of microaccelerometer, for the anchor and grayscale intensity level is 130 for the hanging
a deposition of aluminium for lower electrode, b lithography process part), f hanging structure formed with grayscale lithography process,
for lower electrode formation, c lower electrode structure on a silicon g a sacrificial layer of PMMA is edge drop casted to protect the lower
substrate, d binary exposure for the formation of anchor points electrode in the subsequent liftoff process, h aluminium deposition for
e grayscale lithography process including mask design for hanging the formation of top electrode, (i) liftoff of aluminium and final
structure (black intensity is 0 to block UV light, white intensity is 255 device structure

Fig. 3 Side view of the fabricated SU-8 Microaccelerometer with

serpentine spring structure. Hanging Proof mass and Spring topology Fig. 4 Setup for measurement of device performance, device fixed on
can be seen clearly in this figure compact disc is freely dropped from point A to point B and variation
in capacitance is recorded in parameter analyzer
Here, the top electrode is deposited on the top surface of
proof mass which is in contact with the top of springs and 2.2.2 Characterization setup
supporting anchor pads on the edges.
Figure 4 shows the setup used for performance analysis of
SU-8 microaccelerometer. Here the SU-8

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Microsystem Technologies (2021) 27:2925–2934 2929

microaccelerometer enclosed in a sample box is fixed on a yield point of material for the survival and reliability of the
compact disc. The contact wires are attached to the MEMS device. Figure 5d shows the stress vs. acceleration
accelerometer using the silver paste. The contact wires are characteristics of SU-8, poly-Si, Si3N4, and SiC structural
further connected to the Keithley SCS 4200 electrical materials based accelerometers with serpentine spring
parameter analyzer and probe station. For the characteri- structure. The maximum stress generated at 50 g acceler-
zation, the Microaccelerometer is dropped freely from ation for SU-8, poly-Si, Si3N4, and SiC structural materials
Point A to Point B as shown in Fig. 4, where the distance based accelerometers is estimated to be * 2.7 9 106 N/
between Point A and Point B is * 40 cm. Resulted change m2, * 5.4 9 106 N/m2. * 6.9 9 106 N/m2,
in variation in capacitance is recorded with time for mul- and * 7.2 9 106 N/m2, respectively. The stress generated
tiple dropping of MEMS accelerometer. Which is further in structural materials is much less than the yield point
discussed in experimental results of the next section. of * 0.06 9 109 N/m2 in the case of SU-8 (Available
Online 2021) and * 7–14 9 109 N/m2 in case of PolySi,
SiC, and Si3N4 (Madou 1997). Therefore, the investigated
3 Results and discussion structural materials are reliable for MEMS accelerometer
applications.
3.1 Simulation result Furthermore, Fig. 6 shows the frequency response of
SU-8, Poly-Si, Si3N4, and SiC structural materials based
The spring constant is computed from the slope of Force– accelerometers with a serpentine spring structure. The
Deflection characteristics in which a vertical force up to resonant frequency of SU-8, Poly-Si, Si3N4, and SiC
100 lN is applied on the proof mass (Structural material structural materials-based accelerometers is estimated to
SU-8 during simulation) and resultant displacement in be * 1.39, * 4.21, * 4.80, and * 9.10 kHz, respec-
z-direction is recorded as shown in Fig. 5a (Bao 2000). tively (summarized in Table 2). The reasonable resonant
Computed spring constant for structure give in Fig. 1) is frequency of SU-8 structural material-based accelerometer
8.42 N/m. The different materials along with their simu- is due to the high displacement of SU-8, which leads to
lation parameters are shown in Table 1. Here Young’s lower resonant frequency (fr) as per Eq. (1) and reveals its
modulus of SU-8 (* 4.03 GPa) structural material is potential for navigation, space, and medical applications,
estimated using Nano-indentation technique. Using these etc. (Maier-Schneider et al. 1996; Omeltchenko et al. 1996;
parameters, the mass of proof mass for SU-8, Poly-Si, Kraft 2000).
Si3N4, and SiC materials is calculated to rffiffiffiffiffiffi
1 F
be * 54 9 10–9, * 104 9 10–9, * 140 9 10–9, fr ¼ ð1Þ
2p mx
and * 144 9 10–9 kg, respectively.
Figure 5b shows the displacement and acceleration Table 2 summarizes the essential performance parame-
behaviour of SU-8, Poly-Si, Si3N4, and SiC structural ters of SU-8, poly-Si, Si3N4, and SiC structural materials
materials based accelerometers with serpentine spring based accelerometers. Table 2 reveals that SU-8 based
structural design used for displacement sensitivity com- microaccelerometer is excellently reliable and has the
putation. Here, the displacement sensitivity is defined by highest displacement sensitivity, reasonable resonant fre-
the difference of displacement values at ? 50 g and -50 g quency as compared to PolySi, Si3N4, and SiC from the
divided by the total acceleration (100 g). The displacement simulation analysis. Therefore, SU-8 structural material
sensitivity is calculated to be * 357.68, * 12.50, * based structure is used for the fabrication of accelerometer
11.33, * 4.18 nm/g for SU-8, Poly-Si, Si3N4 and SiC discussed in the next section. Moreover, the SU-8 structural
structural materials based accelerometers respectively. The material is highly motivating for use in MEMS applications
high displacement sensitivity of SU-8 structural material because of the low-cost fabrication process using three
may be due to low young’s modulus as compared to Poly- dimensional grayscale Maskless lithography (Rammohan
Si, Si3N4, and SiC materials as summarized in Table 1. et al. 2011). Therefore, SU-8 structural material is desired
For reliability analysis of spring topology, it is necessary for highly sensitive and economical MEMS accelerometer
to investigate the effect of stress on the spring structures. applications.
Von-misses stress is the most popular method for stress
analysis of MEMS devices (Hassani et al. 2010; Spearing 3.2 Experimental results
2000). In this method, constant acceleration is applied to
the device, and corresponding stress generated in the The capacitance-time characteristic as measured from the
device is measured. Figure 5c shows points of maximum setup (Fig. 4) is shown in Fig. 7. It is observed that there is
stress on the structure on the geometry of the MEMS a sudden decrease in capacitance when SU-8 microac-
accelerometer. The stress generated must be less than the celerometer is dropped freely from point A to point B.

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2930 Microsystem Technologies (2021) 27:2925–2934

Fig. 5 Simulation results of SU-8, Poly-Si, Si3N4, and SiC structural SU-8, Poly-Si, Si3N4, and SiC structural material based accelerom-
design based accelerometers, a force–deflection curve of device eters, c Stress analysis of SU-8, Poly-Si, Si3N4 and SiC structural
structure for the calculation of spring constant (8.42 N/m), b Rela- materials based accelerometers, d Frequency Response of SU-8, Poly-
tionship between movable mass displacement and acceleration for Si, Si3N4, and SiC structural design based accelerometers

Table 1 Comparison of properties of different proof mass materials In order to validate the frequency response of simulated
used for simulation of accelerometer, properties of materials are taken SU-8 microaccelerometer, it is mandatory to investigate
from (Rajgopal et al. 2009; Available Online:Microchem.com; Yi and the experimental frequency response. Therefore, the reso-
Kim 1999; Maier-Schneider et al. 1996; Omeltchenko et al. 1996)
nance frequency of SU-8 micro-accelerometer with ser-
Parameter\material SU-8 Poly-Si Si3N4 SiC pentine spring structure is investigated by Laser Doppler
Density (kg/m3) 1200 2320 3100 3216
Vibrometer (LDV). Figure 8 shows the resonance fre-
Young’s modulus (GPa) 4.03 169 250 748
quency curve for the fabricated SU-8 microaccelerometer.
The experimental results demonstrate the resonance fre-
Poisson ratio 0.22 0.22 0.23 0.45
quency of fabricated micro accelerometer to be * 1.35
kHz which is not far off the simulated resonance frequency
of * 1.39 kHz. In fact, the difference in experimental and
Again, the SU-8 microaccelerometer is taken from point B
simulated resonant frequency (Dfr) is within the accept-
to point A slowly and held at point A for some time until
able range of * 2.9% (Xie and Fedder 2000), calculated
the capacitance stabilizes. This process is repeated multiple
by the following relation:
times, and the capacitance drop with various free falls are
recorded. Here, the variation in capacitance drop during f rexp  f rsim
Df r ¼ ð2Þ
different free-falls may be due to tilting of microac- f rexp
celerometer fixed on compact disk while dropping.

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Microsystem Technologies (2021) 27:2925–2934 2931

Fig. 6 Frequency Response of

a SU-8, b Poly-Si, c Si3N4, and
d SiC structural design based
accelerometers

Table 2 Comparison of performance parameters of different proof

mass materials in serpentine spring structure
Parameter\material SU-8 Poly-Si Si3N4 SiC

Displacement sensitivity (nm/g) 357.68 12.50 11.33 4.18

Resonant frequency (kHz) 1.39 4.21 4.80 9.10
Stress at 50 g (9 106 N/m2) 2.7 5.4 6.9 7.2

Fig. 8 The resonance frequency curve for the fabricated SU-8

microaccelerometer with serpentine spring structure using LDV. The
inset shows the magnified view of the experimental resonance peak

where frexp and frsim are the experimental and simulated

resonant frequency values, respectively. The trivial varia-
tion of * 2.9% in experimental and simulation resonant
frequency results of microaccelerometer may be due to the
process variation of microfabrication technology.
Lastly, from the reliability viewpoint of MEMS devices,
the young’s modulus is an important parameter for the
Fig. 7 The trace of capacitance variation generated during free fall of
SU-8 microaccelerometer from point A to point B as shown in setup.
calculation of resonance frequency. Which is investigated
Spikes shows the fall of MEMS accelerometer at particular time by nanoindentation technique for the exposed SU-8 struc-
tural material. Figure 9a shows the load–displacement
characteristics of exposed SU-8 material used as a proof
mass of microaccelerometer with serpentine spring

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2932 Microsystem Technologies (2021) 27:2925–2934

Fig. 9 a The Load–Displacement (P–h) for the extraction of young’s b Force—displacement plot of the fabricated accelerometer for the
modulus (4.03 GPa) of SU-8 material exposed with UV. The inset extraction of spring constant (* 8 N/m). The inset indicates the
shows the Berkovich diamond indenter tip used for nanoindentation. nano-intended point at the suspended serpentine spring.

Table 3 Comparison with state-of-the-art z-axis microaccelerometers

Material # of masks RIE based Releasing Displacement Resonant frequency Linear References
required Process sensitivity (nm/g) (fr) (kHz) response up to

Si/ graphene 2 H H – – 1.5 g Fan, et al. (2020)

SOI Si 4 H H – 2.49 – Aydemir and
Akin (2020)
Si/glass 2 9 H – – – Rao (2020)
SU-8/carbon 6 H H * 280 10.86 – Seena et al.
black (2017)
SU-8/carbon 6 H 9 140 1.88 – Ahmed et al.
black (2020)
Steel/PZT 3 9 9 – 4.11 – Gong et al. (2020)
SU-8 7 9 9 744 0.50 – Carreno et al.
(2013)
SU-8 5 9 H – *4 100 g Jeong and Wang
(2004)
SU-8 3 (virtual 9 9 * 357.68 * 1.35 ± 50 g This work
masks)

support. Here, the maximum load of 500 lN with contact load and then unloaded. The typical load displacement plot
stiffness of 6.7 lN/nm is applied. The P–h curves reveal for the fabricated accelerometer is shown in Fig. 9b the
the young’s modulus of * 4.03 GPa for the material used spring constant of the fabricated accelerometer is measured
in the fabrication of microaccelerometer which demon- from the average slope of the load–displacement plot, and
strate high reliability of SU-8 structural material. The is found to be * 8 N/m, which is in great agreement with
physiochemical change in SU-8 from solution (Er * 2.0 the simulated result.
GPa) to solid structure (Er * 4.03 GPa) after UV exposure Finally, Table 3 summarizes the comparison of the
and Post-Exposure Bake (PEB) altered its mechanical proposed Z-axis SU-8 microaccelerometer with state-of-
properties (Chung and Park 2013; Oliver and Pharr 2004). the-art Z-axis microaccelerometer. This fabricated device
Whereas, for experimental computation of the spring in this work shows better sensitivity as compared to other
constant, the intender tip was bought into contact with the materials. Also the device is economical to fabricate as it
suspended proof-mass of fabricated SU-8 accelerometer does not require complex MEMS processes like surface
and the load was ramped at a constant rate to the desired and bulk micromachining. Also the reported accelerometer

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Microsystem Technologies (2021) 27:2925–2934 2933

covers the wide application areas, such as navigation, Available online: http://www.microchem.com/Prod-SU8_KMPR.
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