Sagnac Effect Compensations and Locked States in a Ring Laser Gyroscope.

Frequency lock-in-induced deadband phenomena are major problems of ring laser gyroscopes (RLGs), which deteriorate linear responses to changes in the applied rotation rate. In this work, the frequency lock-in phenomenon occurring in the RLG was successfully investigated by compensating for the Sagnac effect through frequency analysis using a newly defined error function. Integrative and generalized viewpoints from the analyzed results provide new possibilities for relevant performance improvements of optical gyroscopes, as well as a deeper understanding of locked states in principle aspects.

Die-Attach Structure of Silicon-on-Glass MEMS Devices Considering Asymmetric Packaging Stress and Thermal Stress.

Die attach is a typical process that induces thermal stress in the fabrication of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices. One solution to this problem is attaching a portion of the die to the package. In such partial die bonding, the lack of control over the spreading of the adhesive can cause non-uniform attachment. In this case, asymmetric packaging stress could be generated and transferred to the die. The performance of MEMS devices, which employ the differential outputs of the sensing elements, is directly affected by the asymmetric packaging stress. In this paper, we proposed a die-attach structure with a pillar to reduce the asymmetric packaging stress and the changes in packaging stress due to changes in the device temperature. To verify the proposed structure, we fabricated four types of differential resonant accelerometers (DRA) with the silicon-on-glass process. We confirmed experimentally that the pillar can control the spreading of the adhesive and that the asymmetric packaging stress is considerably reduced. The simulation and experimental results indicated that the DRAs manufactured using glass-on-silicon wafers as handle substrates instead of conventional glass wafers have a structure that compensates for the thermal stress.

Design of a MEMS piezoresistive differential pressure sensor with small thermal hysteresis for air data modules.

The design, fabrication, and evaluation results of a MEMS piezoresistive differential pressure sensor fabricated by the dry etching process are described in this paper. The proposed sensor is designed to have optimal performances in mid-pressure range from 0 psi to 20 psi suitable for a precision air data module. The piezoresistors with a Wheatstone bridge structure are implanted where the thermal effects are minimized subject to sustainment of the sensitivity. The rectangular-shaped silicon diaphragm is adopted and its dimension is analyzed for improving pressure sensitivity and linearity. The bridge resistors are driven by constant current to compensate temperature effects on sensitivity. The designed differential pressure sensor is fabricated by using MEMS dry etching techniques, and the fabricated sensing element is attached and packaged in a Kovar package in consideration of leakage and temperature hysteresis. The implemented sensors are tested and evaluated as well. The evaluation results show the static RSS (root sum square) accuracy including nonlinearity, non-repeatability, and pressure hysteresis before temperature compensation is about 0.09%, and the total error band which includes the RSS accuracy, the thermal hysteresis, and other thermal effects is about 0.11%, which confirm the validity of the proposed design process.