Rotation rate sensor formed from silicon@ wafer - has axis of vibration perpendicular to surface of wafer, and accelerometer perpendicular to vibration axis

摘要

The rotation sensor incudes a vibrator (4) which is excited to oscillate in a vibration axis, and the Coriolis acceleration arising based on a rotation is picked up in a second axis vertical to the vibration axis by an acceleration sensor on the vibrator (4). The vibrator (4) itself is structured from a wafer (1). The vibration axis (7) is perpendicular to the surface of the wafer (1) and the measurement direction of the acceleration sensor arranged on the vibrator (4) is perpendicular to the vibration axis. The wafer (1), from which the vibrator (4) is structured has several layers (2,3) and has a thick lower layer (3) and a thin upper layer (2), both of silicon or, alternatively the lower layer is of silicon and the upper layer is of a dielectric material, partic. silicon oxide and/or silicon nitride. ADVANTAGE - Vibrator and capacitive acceleration sensor are formed simply using micro-mechanical techniques. Vibrator is compact.