Modeling of angular-rate bandwidth for a vibrating microgyroscope

Abstract

A new analysis on the angular-rate bandwidth characteristics of a vibrating microgyroscope is proposed. Employing a dynamic model for a vibrating microgyroscope, the frequency response of the vibrating microgyroscope is analyzed with respect to an input angular rate. A microgyroscope, in which an inertial mass vibrates on a substrate plane, is designed and fabricated by surface micromachining technology using polysilicon structures on an insulation layer. The fabricated microgyroscope was operated in a vacuum environment of 100 mtorr, and showed the sensitivity of 5 mV s/degrees with the noise level of 1 mV. Bandwidth characteristics of the microgyroscpes were also investigated by comparison with the simulation on the bandwidth model, and the validity of the proposed dynamic model was evaluated.