Combined Temperature and Humidity Effects on MEMS Vibratory Gyroscope Sensor

Abstract

Reliability and long term stability are the greatest challenges for commercialization of MEMS gyroscopes. Their vast use in different applications that required MEMS gyroscopes to function from medium to harsh environments make necessary to evaluate the performance of MEMS gyroscope under those conditions. This paper focuses on the combined long term effects of temperature and humidity on the performance of MEMS vibratory gyroscope. Performance of the MEMS gyroscope was evaluated over time by conducting temperature humidity bias (THB) test on a COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) single axis MEMS vibratory gyroscope having an operating temperature range from −40°C to +85°C. The gyroscope sensors were exposed to 60°C and 90%RH (Relative Humidity) for 500 hours. Six single axis gyroscopes were tested, three with in-situ device calibration and three without in-situ device calibration. Out of three MEMS vibratory gyroscopes tested without in-situ device calibration, it was observed that samples had minimum and maximum in-situ zero rate output (ZRO) drift of 1.3°/s and 2.2°/s respectively over 500 hours. These drifts were disappeared when gyroscope sensors were tested after six months by keeping at room condition. Other three single axis gyroscopes were tested in the same chamber with in-situ device calibration which didn’t show any major performance ZRO drift.