SOLID STATE FORCE TRANSDUCER AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME

Solid state folded leaf spring force transducers are fabricated by batch photolithographic and etching techniques from a monocrystalline material, such as silicon. The folded leaf spring structure includes elongated gaps separating adjacent leaf spring leg portions, such elongated gaps being oriented parallel to a crystallographic axis of the monocrystalline material. In a preferred embodiment the monocrystalline material is of diamond cubic type and the leaf spring gaps extend in mutually orthogonal directions parallel to the and crystallographic axes, respectively. In a preferred method of fabricating the spring structure, the structure is etched from a monocrystalline wafer by means of an anistropic etchant so as to more precisely define angles and dimensions of the resultant spring structure. In one embodiment, the gaps between adjacent leg portions of the spring structure are sealed in a fluid tight manner by means of oxide membranes left intact upon etching of the spring structure. In an accelerometer embodiment, sensing masses of equal weight are affixed to opposite sides of the spring structure for dynamically balancing same.