High-Q, 3kHz Single-Crystal-Silicon Cylindrical Rate-Integrating Gyro (CING)

Abstract

This paper describes the design, control system and test results of the Single-Crystal-Si (SCS) Cylindrical Rate-Integrating Gyroscope (CING), operating at 3kHz. The CING is a MEMS gyroscope to demonstrate continuous rate-integrating operation, operating over several hours at a time. The sensor is fabricated with the Silicon-On-Glass (SOG) process, calibrated for deep (>;300μm), high aspect-ratio (>;1:15), and narrow-gap (2μm) Si structures. The sensor has an original Δf of 7Hz, and a nominal damping time (τ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> ) of 8.7 seconds when modes are matched within 20mHz. It was evaluated in rate- and rate-integrating modes using a hybrid FPGA and software control. The rate-mode angle random walk was 0.09°/√Hr with Allan Variance of 129°/hr and an angular gain of 0.011.