Microfabricated Gyro Using Opto-electronics

In this Phase I SBIR proposal, IntelliSense Corporation proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of integrating optical, electronic, and mechanical functions in a single low cost, compact and reliable inertial system. The baseline system consists of an integrated optics gyroscope and a micro-opto-mechanical accelerometer. The accelerometer uses optical techniques to measure the response of the silicon micromachined flexures to acceleration. In Phase I, we will demonstrate feasibility of a silicon integrated optics gyro by performing a rigorous design and performing several manufacturing steps. In Phase II, we would optimize the gyroscope concept demonstrated in Phase I, produce and evaluate the performance of the gyro and integrate it with a micromachined accelerometer in a monolithic inertial measuring unit (IMU) system. The micromachined optoelectronics gyro proposed has two unique technological features: (1) a sensitive measurement technique using ring resonators and (2) unique material processing for the waveguide formation. The resonator technique has the advantages of high performance with low sensitivity to thermal variations, non-homogeneity and material residual stress. The processing technology uses micromachining to produce miniature, low cost and batch fabricated devices compatible with standard integrated circuit (IC) processing.