Abstract :
The MEMS aerospace market has its own specificities in terms of market size, standards, and performance characteristics (very long term stability, reliability, and safety levels). Improvements are needed for future applications. THALES Avionics has a twenty-year experience in quartz and silicon MEMS design and manufacturing and is recognized as a leader by the French MOD in this field. MEMS pressure sensors and accelerometers are manufactured in large volume and used for safety-critical applications. THALES technology policy focused on planar architecture, die vacuum packaging, and deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) allowing good characteristics for sensors in development. A Silicon Vibrating Beam Accelerometer single chip is now under development. Its operating principle is described with two resonators in push-pull configuration. A tuning fork planar rate gyro is also developed with exactly the same technology for industrial efficiency. Performance results will be addressed. The development and industrialization road-map of theses inertial products is described for the following five years. Gyro-compassing grade inertial sensors would be available during the next decade allowing low-cost, high-grade navigators using simultaneously GNSS receivers and inertial MEMS navigators.
Keywords :
accelerometers; aerospace instrumentation; electronics packaging; micromechanical devices; navigation; MEMS; THALES avionics; aerospace navigation; deep reactive ion etching; die vacuum packaging; planar architecture; push pull configuration; silicon vibrating beam accelerometer; Accelerometers; Aerospace electronics; Aerospace safety; Manufacturing; Micromechanical devices; Navigation; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Silicon; Stability; Vacuum arcs;
