A Novel In-Operation High g-Survivable MEMS Gyroscope

This paper presents a new SOI-MEMS gyroscope with very high in-operation shock survivability together with very low R nonlinearity and scale factor g-sensitivity, owing to its optimized mechanical structure and durable readout electronics. Maximum stress induced on the gyro structure under a shock loading of 10,000 g is determined to be below 860 MPa. The new gyroscope also allows keeping the proof mass voltage within the supply voltages of readout electronics, preventing the possibility of electronic failure in case of pull in. The scale factor at the atmospheric pressure is measured as 10.4 mV/(deg/sec) with an R
²
nonlinearity of 0.03% and scale-factor g sensitivity of 1.89 (mV/deg/sec)/g. At the atmospheric pressure, the bias instability and angle random walk of the gyroscope are measured as 391deg/hr and 5.27degradichr, respectively. The gyroscope gives even better performance characteristics at vacuum ambient with a bias instability and angle random walk of 105deg/hr and 5.29degradichr, respectively.