Design and Analysis of Curved Electrode Configurations for Enhanced Sensitivity in 1-Axis MEMS Accelerometers

Design and Analysis of Curved Electrode Configurations for Enhanced Sensitivity in 1-Axis MEMS Accelerometers | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Design and Analysis of Curved Electrode Configurations for Enhanced Sensitivity in 1-Axis MEMS Accelerometers Adhinarayan Naembin Ashok, Adarsh Ganesan This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7057947/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Microsystem Technologies → Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper presents a comprehensive analytical and simulation-based study of curved electrode geometries for enhancing the sensitivity of MEMS capacitive accelerometers. Expressions for the capacitance between a planar movable electrode and six distinct fixed electrode profiles (biconvex, biconcave, concavo-convex, convexo-concave, plano-convex, and plano-concave) are derived, enabling direct calculation of differential gain and sensitivity as functions of electrode curvature and gap displacement. These analytical models are then rigorously validated using finite element simulations performed using COMSOL Multiphysics under identical bias and boundary conditions. The simulation results demonstrate agreement with the analytical results with a deviation of less than 7% in all configurations. The results also reveal that biconvex curved electrodes yield the greatest sensitivity improvement over the planar electrodes, with sensitivity monotonically increasing with arc length, while concave and plano-concave designs exhibit reduced performance. The concavo-convex and convexo-concave configurations furthermore introduce polarity inversion in the output voltage, offering additional design flexibility. Importantly, these sensitivity enhancements are achieved without any change in the overall volumetric dimensions of the device or the proof-mass dimensions of the module for achieving higher-resolution inertial sensing. MEMS accelerometer inertial sensing capacitive sensing Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Microsystem Technologies → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 31 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 29 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 19 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 24 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 20 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 10 Jul, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 07 Jul, 2025 First submitted to journal 06 Jul, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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