The researchers were able to meet these specifications with a sensor footprint of only 1.3 mm by leveraging nano-resistive sensing.
Combining CEA-Leti’s expertise in highly sensitive sensors based on silicon nano-gauges and Politecnico di Milano’s expertise in gyroscope design, this new gyroscope solution reaches 0.004 °/Öhr ARW and 0.02 °/hr stability on average over several tested samples – results unrivalled results for a 1.3 mm²-size gyroscope footprint.
The ARW and bias instability performance were highlighted on non-static operations: “After 9-minute long in-operation navigation where the gyro is repeatedly tilted by 180° constant angle rotations and by AC random motion with about 200-dps peak-to-peak value, the residual angle error at the end of navigation corresponds to only 0.07°.”
This result was achieved without Kalman filter compensation.
To keep manufacturing costs low, the team focused on both the sensor’s size and the robustness of the fabrication process, especially on vacuum-WLP. The CEA-Leti and Politecnico di MilanoNEMS-based gyroscope is fully compatible with standard MEMS foundries for high-volume markets such as the automotive industry.