Novel Solid Micro-Gyroscope

This paper reports a novel structure for improving resistance to acceleration or shock in micro-gyroscopes. The novel device reported here is completely "solid", which is quite unlike any conventional micromachined-gyroscope. It has extremely simple structure and fabrication steps. When a longitudinal vibration is excited in PZT rectangular prism as a reference vibration, differential output voltage by the Coriolis force can be obtained on the PZT surface. The paper shows the operation principle, results from FEM analysis, and preliminary experimental results by the test device.