Abstract: A capacitive acceleration sensor is composed of a silicon plate, a glass plate and a substrate. The silicon plate has a fixed portion and a movable portion supported by the fixed portion through spring beams. The movable portion is moved in response to the change in the acceleration and is provided with a moving electrode thereon. The glass plate is provided with a fixed electrode and anodically bonded to the silicon plate so that the fixed electrode faces the moving electrode with a predetermined gap. On the glass plate, a first dummy electrode is formed at a location corresponding to the spring beams of the silicon plate. The dummy electrode has a terminal portion at one end so as to be electrically connected with the silicon plate during anodic bonding of the plates. On the substrate, a second dummy electrode is formed at a location corresponding to the movable portion of the silicon plate.

Abstract: A digital capacitive sensing device comprises: a reference capacitor having a reference capacitance unaffected by a force to be measured; a reference pulse signal generating circuit which generates a reference pulse signal of a frequency corresponding to the reference capacitance; a sensing capacitor having capacitance variable according to the magnitude of the force; a measuring pulse signal generating circuit having a construction similar to that of the reference pulse signal generating circuit and capable of generating a measuring pulse signal of a frequency corresponding to the capacitance of the sensing capacitor; and a differential arithmetic circuit which adds the number of pulses of the reference pulse signal in a predetermined time interval to a set value and subtracts the number of pulses of the measuring pulse signal in a predetermined time interval from the set value.