Gyroscope architecture with structurally forced anti-phase drive-mode and linearly coupled anti-phase sense-mode

This paper reports, for the first time, a vibratory MEMS z-axis rate gyroscope architecture with structurally forced anti-phase drive-mode and linearly coupled, dynamically balanced anti-phase sense-mode. The new design utilizes two symmetrically-decoupled tines with drive- and sense-mode synchronization mechanisms, and prioritizes sense-mode quality factor. The levered drive-mode mechanism structurally forces the anti-phase drive-mode motion and eliminates the lower frequency spurious modes. The linearly coupled, dynamically balanced antiphase sense-mode design minimizes substrate energy dissipation. SOI prototypes characterized in vacuum demonstrated drive-mode quality factor of 67,000 and ultra-high sense-mode quality factor of 125,000, yielding mechanical scale factor of 0.4 nm/(deg/h) for mode-matched operation.