A Planar Z-axis Gyroscope for MEMS Inertial Measurement Units

A planar, z-axis gyroscope is required to develop the simplest version of a planar MEMS IMU having all instruments integrated on a single chip. The z-axis gyro designed in Phase I replaces the four accelerometers currently used to measure z-axis rotation in the Integrated MEMS IMU under development. MSSA designs all the instruments using a common set of component parts, which, together with SOC electronics and a single package, allows the development of the smallest, lowest cost IMU, with performance that can be optimized based on the high correlation between the instruments integrated on the chip. The z-axis gyroscope can also be combined with a companion x-axis gyroscope, resulting in a second version of an integrated IMU. Individual z-axis gyros selected for high performance can also be mounted on the sides of a pyramidal mount with orthogonal faces to achieve a non-integrated IMU. This approach eliminates the need to align the gyros, since the input axis is normal to the mounting surface.