A novel method of quadrature compensation in the butterfly resonator based on modal stiffness analysis

• Main Authors: Tongqiao Miao, Fenlan Ou, Qiang Xu, Zhanqiang Hou, Xuezhong Wu, Dingbang Xiao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2018-10-01
• Series: AIP Advances
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5042583

The butterfly gyroscope is simple to manufacture and it is considered as one kind of MEMS gyroscope with high sensitivity due to its unique structure. In reality, fabrication imperfections result in non-ideal geometries in the resonator, which in turn causes the quadrature error. The quadrature error has a great influence on the performance of the sensors in Micro and Nano scale, such as the zero-rate output (ZRO), the detection resolution and the dynamic range. However, the fact that the mechanical parameters of resonators are unknown (due to fabrication variation, fluctuations with temperature and aging) poses serious challenges. This paper presents a simple, yet effective method of quadrature compensation in butterfly resonator by electrostatic tuning. Theoretical calculation of quadrature error in butterfly gyroscope is carried out, establishing the mathematical model of quadrature compensation. Then, the simulation analysis is conducted to further analyze the mechanism of quadrature error and the method of quadrature compensation. Also, 5 butterfly gyroscopes fabricated on the same silicon wafer are selected for the experiment of quadrature compensation and the ZRO of the butterfly gyroscopes improves up to two orders of magnitude with quadrature cancellation, showing the feasibility of the proposed approach to quadrature compensation in the butterfly gyroscope. Finally, the way to decrease the direct current voltage VT required for suppressing the quadrature error is discussed. What is more, the method is not only suitable for the butterfly gyroscope, but also can be applied to other sensors in the Micro and Nanoscale.