Novel 3-Axis Gyroscope on a Single Chip using SOI-Technology

In this paper a novel 3-axis micro-machined gyroscope based on SOI-technology is presented. Compared to three-axis acceleration sensors, high performance gyroscopes having three sensing axis on a single silicon chip are not present on the market due to the more complex functionality based on the Coriolis effect. The new 3-axis gyroscope is based on standard silicon-on-insulator (SOI) -technology requiring no additional buried or cap electrodes. With this device a reduction of the package size of a multi-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU) is achievable at least by a factor of ten. Moreover, performance loss due to the assembly mismatch of spatial configuration of single axis sensors can be neglected and hence the overall costs can be significantly reduced. This paper discusses in detail the concept of the sensing structure, the modified SOI-technology and the latest measurement results of the first prototypes of the novel single-chip 3-axis gyroscope.