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Wafer-level vacuum-encapsulated rate gyroscope with high quality factor in a commercial MEMS process

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Abstract

We report the design and fabrication of a rate gyroscope sensor that is characterized by a high quality factor (52,300), unmatched resonance mode and low noise performance. The gyroscope dimensions are 1800 µm × 850 µm with 30 µm device thickness. The gyroscope comprises of a symmetrical resonator for the drive mode oscillation and uses differential capacitance measurement for inertial sensing. The gyroscope is fabricated using MEMS Integrated Design for Inertial Sensors process, which is a new microfabrication process developed by Teledyne DALSA Semiconductor Inc. This new microfabrication technology offers wafer-level encapsulation under high vacuum pressure of 10 mTorr and includes Through Silicon Vias that allows flip-chip bonding with an integrated circuit for signal detection and processing. The fabricated gyroscope was tested and it exhibited a sensitivity of 0.8 fF/°/s with excellent linearity over a wide input angular velocity range of ±1000°/s and a high rate resolution of 0.71°/s.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the financial support given by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and University of Dayton. We would like to acknowledge the support of Canada Microelectronics Corporation for access to MIDIS process from TDSI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, 3480 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 0E9, Canada

    Adel Merdassi & Mohamad Nizar Kezzo

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH, 45469, USA

    Vamsy P. Chodavarapu

Authors
  1. Adel Merdassi
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  2. Mohamad Nizar Kezzo
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  3. Vamsy P. Chodavarapu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vamsy P. Chodavarapu.

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Merdassi, A., Kezzo, M.N. & Chodavarapu, V.P. Wafer-level vacuum-encapsulated rate gyroscope with high quality factor in a commercial MEMS process. Microsyst Technol 23, 3745–3756 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-016-3250-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-016-3250-3

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