GaAs 3-axis Coriolis vibrating micro rate gyro: concept and preliminary characterization

AbstractAbstract This paper presents a GaAs based piezoelectric Coriolis Vibrating Gyroscope (CVG) which measures rotation rates along the three orthogonal directions of space by using a single vibrating structure. The proposed design shows important sensibilities along the 3 orthogonal directions As a test, some GaAs resonators were realized by GaAs bulk wet etching of 450 μm-thick wafers.This paper begins with a presentation of the principle of a new 3-axis CVG, its design and how GaAs piezoelectricity can be use to actuate and sense it. It is followed by a study of the bulk wet micromachining of GaAs, and the realization of thick GaAs resonators carrying top and back side electrodes. Characteristics of these GaAs resonators are finally presented