A Novel Comb Architecture for Enhancing the Sensitivity of Bulk Mode Gyroscopes

Sensors

Mohannad Y. Elsayed¹  Frederic Nabki² 

[1] Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 0E9, Canada; E-Mail:;Department of Computer Science, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec H3C 3P8, Canada; E-Mail:

关键词: MEMS;    resonant gyroscopes;    bulk-mode;    sensitivity enhancement;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s131216641

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

This work introduces a novel architecture for increasing the sensitivity of bulk mode gyroscopes. It is based on adding parallel plate comb drives to the points of maximum vibration amplitude, and tuning the stiffness of the combs. This increases the drive strength and results in a significant sensitivity improvement. The architecture is targeted for technologies with ∼100 nm transducer gaps in order to achieve very high performance devices. In this work, this sensitivity enhancement concept was implemented in SOIMUMPs, a commercial relatively large gap technology. Prototypes were measured to operate at frequencies of ∼1.5 MHz, with quality factors of ∼33,000, at a 10 mTorr vacuum level. Measurements using discrete electronics show a rate sensitivity of 0.31 μV/°/s, corresponding to a capacitance sensitivity of 0.43 aF/°/s/electrode, two orders of magnitude higher than a similar design without combs, fabricated in the same technology.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.