MEMS hemispherical resonator gyroscope

• US 9,423,253 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2012
• Issued: 08/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Incorporated
• Inventors: Weinberg, Marc Steven, Bernstein, Jonathan, Chaparala, Murali, Sherman, Peter G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams, Hezron E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shabman, Mark A
• Application Number:
  US13/665,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20130104653A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,392 Days
• Field of Search: 735/041.2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 19/5691 of essentially three-dimensional vibrators, e.g. wine glass-type vibrators
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4913 Assembling to base an electrical component, e.g., capacitor, etc.

Abstract

A MEMS gyroscope is provided. A substrate can be formed with a substantially planar surface, a substantially hemispherical cavity extending into the surface, an actuation electrode, and a plurality of sensing electrodes. A resonator formed from a substantially hemispherical shell can be suspended within the cavity by a stem coupling the center of the bottom of the cavity to the center of the bottom of the shell. An electronic processor can be configured to cause a voltage to be applied to the actuation electrode, receive signals from the sensing electrodes, and process the received signals to determine rotation of the MEMS gyroscope.

Claims

1. A MEMS gyroscope comprising:

a substrate comprising an amorphous material having a substantially planar surface, a substantially hemispherical cavity extending into the surface of the amorphous material substrate, an actuation electrode, and a plurality of sensing electrodes;

a resonator including a substantially hemispherical shell suspended within the cavity by a stem coupling the center of the bottom of the cavity to the center of the bottom of the shell; and

an electronic processor configured to;

cause a voltage to be applied to the actuation electrode;

receive signals from the sensing electrodes; and

process the received signals to determine rotation of the MEMS gyroscope.

2. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the resonator comprises a lip extending radially outwards around an edge of the hemispherical shell.

3. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 2, wherein the resonator comprises an electrically conductive material.

4. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 3, wherein the electrically conductive material comprises one of boron doped diamond, doped silicon carbide, and doped silicon.

5. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 3, wherein the actuation and sensing electrodes are positioned on the surface of the substrate beneath the resonator.

6. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 5, wherein the actuation and sensing electrodes are positioned such that a first portion of each electrode is located on the surface of the substrate beneath the lip of the resonator and a second portion of each electrode extends downward on the surface of the hemispherical cavity.

7. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 3, wherein the actuation and sensing electrodes are positioned on the top surface of the substrate surrounding the lip of the resonator.

8. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 2, wherein the actuation electrodes comprise interdigitated electrode pairs located on the surface of the substrate beneath the lip of the resonator such that a voltage applied to the electrodes creates fringing fields that cause the resonator to vibrate.

9. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 2, wherein the lip of the resonator is segmented into tabs extending radially outward from the edge of the resonator.

10. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 9, wherein the total number of tabs is a multiple of eight.

11. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 9, further comprising a metal deposited onto the tabs, wherein a mass of the metal differs on at least two of the tabs.

12. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 11, wherein the metal comprises an adhesion layer of chromium, zirconium or titanium and at least one of gold and copper.

13. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 11, wherein the resonator has a first resonant frequency associated with a first vibratory mode and a second resonant frequency associated with a second vibratory mode, and wherein the mass of metal on each tab is selected to increase a degree of matching between the first resonant frequency and the second resonant frequency.

14. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the actuation and sensing electrodes surround the hemispherical cavity and the number of electrodes is a multiple of eight.

15. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the actuation and sensing electrodes are made from a silicide comprising at least one of chromium, zirconium, platinum, palladium, nickel, cobalt, iron, iridium, rhodium, and ruthenium.

16. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the actuation and sensing electrodes comprise dual metal stacks made from chromium or zirconium and at least one of platinum, palladium, nickel, cobalt, iron, iridium, rhodium, zirconium, vanadium, hafnium and ruthenium.

17. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the resonator is made from a dielectric material.

18. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 17, wherein the dielectric material is one of diamond, SiO₂, Si₃N₄, and SiO₂—

TiO₂.

19. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the amorphous material is selected such that the coefficient of thermal expansion of the substrate matches the coefficient of thermal expansion of the resonator.

20. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the amorphous material comprises CORNING 1715 glass.

21. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the coefficients of thermal expansion of the resonator and the substrate are both in the range of about 2 to about 4 parts per million per degree Celsius.

22. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the stem extends into the substrate below the bottom of the cavity.

23. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, further comprising a thin film battery located on the substrate and coupled to the electronic processor.

24. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, further comprising at least one resistor located between at least one of the electrodes and an electrical or virtual ground or a drive circuit.

25. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 24, wherein the resonator has a first Q value associated with a first vibratory mode and a second Q value associated with a second vibratory mode, and wherein a value of the at least one resistor is selected to increase a degree of matching between the first Q value and the second Q value.

26. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the stem is hollow.

27. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the resonator includes a corrugated region at its center.

28. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the resonator has a thickness in the range of about 0.5 microns to about 20 microns.

29. The MEMS gyroscope of claim 1, wherein the resonator has a diameter in the range of about 0.2 mm to about 10 mm.