Publications

Shock margin testing of a one-axis MEMS accelerometer

Parson, Ted B.; Buchheit, Thomas E.

Shock testing was performed on a selected commercial-off-the-shelf - MicroElectroMechanical System (COTS-MEMS) accelerometer to determine the margin between the published absolute maximum rating for shock and the 'measured' level where failures are observed. The purpose of this testing is to provide baseline data for isolating failure mechanisms under shock and environmental loading in a representative device used or under consideration for use within systems and assemblies of the DOD/DOE weapons complex. The specific device chosen for this study was the AD22280 model of the ADXL78 MEMS Accelerometer manufactured by Analog Devices Inc. This study focuses only on the shock loading response of the device and provides the necessary data for adding influence of environmental exposure to the reliability of this class of devices. The published absolute maximum rating for acceleration in any axis was 4000 G for this device powered or unpowered. Results from this study showed first failures at 8000 G indicating a margin of error of two. Higher shock level testing indicated that an in-plane, but off-axis acceleration was more damaging than one in the sense direction.