MICRO-MACHINED MULTI-SENSOR PROVIDING 2-AXES OF ACCELERATION SENSING AND 1-AXIS OF ANGULAR RATE SENSING

摘要

A micro-machined multi-sensor (300) that provides two axes of acceleration sensing and one axis of angular rate sensing. The multi-sensor includes a rigid accelerometer frame (330), a first proof mass (332) and a second proof mass (334). The substrate has two associated acceleration axes (Y, X) in the plane of the substrate and one associated rotation axis (Z) perpendicular to the acceleration axes. The proof masses have a common vibration axis (x), which is perpendicular to the rotation axis (Z). The multi-sensor further includes a drive electrode structure (246.1-246.2, 248.1-248.2) for causing the proof masses to vibrate in antiphase, a first pair of acceleration sense electrode structures (A, B) disposed along one of the acceleration axes, and a second pair of acceleration sense electrode structures (C, D) disposed along the other acceleration axis. The multi-sensor adds (314, 318) the sense signals provided by the respective sense electrode pairs to extract information pertaining to acceleration sensing along the acceleration axes, and (adds322) the differences (316, 320) of the sense signals provided by the respective sense electrode pairs to extract information pertaining to angular rate sensing relative to the rotation axis.