Design and Fabrication of Micro‐glassblown Wineglass Resonators

This chapter discusses an intriguing possibility: micro‐glassblowing as a means to fabricate low internal loss fused silica and Ultra Low Expansion Titania Silicate Glass 3‐D shell micro‐structures. It presents the design parameters for micro‐glassblown structures. This is followed by details of the fabrication process. Maximization of the Q‐factor is key to enhancing performance of vibratory micro‐electromechanical (MEMS) system devices in demanding signal processing, timing, and inertial applications. Current MEMS fabrication techniques limit the maximum achievable Q‐factor by restricting the material choice to few materials and device geometry to 2‐D planar structures. Analytical expressions to predict the final micro‐glassblown geometry is developed. This is followed by finite element methods to predict the thickness of the shell structure and stem diameter. Axisymmetric gyroscopes, such as ring/disk and wineglass gyroscopes, on the other hand utilize the so‐called “wineglass” modes for gyroscope operation.