Page 268 - Microsensors, MEMS and Smart Devices - Gardner Varadhan and Awadelkarim

248 MICROSENSORS

Class by measurand: Device types:
e.g. capacitor

e.g. thermal microbridge

— Force, Torque Q e -8- microcantilever

e.g. silicon diaphragm

e.g. piezoelectric crystal

e.g. STM

e.g. microbridge

e.g. microphone

Figure 8.19 Classification scheme for mechanical microsensors. From Gardner (1994)

The most important classes of mechanical microsensors to date is a subset of only six or
12
so and these constitute the majority of the existing market for micromechanical sensors.
Thus, the main measurands of mechanical microsensors are as follows in alphabetical
order:

• Acceleration/deceleration
• Displacement
• Flow rate
• Force/torque
• Position/angle
• Pressure/stress

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See Chapter 1 for details of the main markets for mechanical and other types of microsensor.