An electrostatic charge sensor based on micro resonator with sensing scheme of effective stiffness perturbation

A resonant electrostatic charge sensor with high sensitivity based on micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology is proposed to measure electric charge. Input charge produces lateral electrostatic force to change effective stiffness of double-ended tuning forks resonator, and leads to a resonant frequency shift. The sensitivity of the charge sensor is 4.4  ×  10⁻⁴ Hz fC⁻². The proposed sensing scheme of effective stiffness perturbation has higher sensitivity than the traditional axial strain sensing methods. Experimental results show that the frequency modulation has better resolution and stability than the amplitude modulation. The proposed sensing scheme also creates additional energy transmission paths inside the device to improve quality factor and stabilize frequency fluctuation. The instability of resonant frequency induced by mechanical nonlinearity are investigated. (paper)