SBIR Phase I: A MEMS Environment Resistant Resonant Sensor (ERRS) Process for Very High Performance and High Reliability Inertial Sensors and Oscillators

这个小型企业创新研究计划（SBIR）第一阶段项目是为了证明耐环境谐振传感器（ERRS）工艺的可行性，这将使下一代高性能和高可靠性传感器成为可能。在过去的5年里，微机电系统（MEMS）惯性（运动）传感器已经爆炸式地进入了广泛的消费应用领域，因为它们的制造成本为1美元，而且体积足够小，可以集成到移动设备中。相比之下，用于工业、航空航天和军事应用的MEMS和其他惯性传感器要大得多，更耗电，而且成本极高。这是因为这些设备需要50到100,000倍更好的分辨率/测量稳定性（偏置稳定性）和高可靠性。MEMS陀螺仪（测量角度变化）由于需要低真空压力以及高温和振动灵敏度，因此很难达到这些性能水平。ERRS工艺将解决这些挑战，具有低真空压力和内置低功率烘箱和隔振平台。在ERRS工艺中制造的陀螺仪的目标是达到最先进的性能状态（偏差稳定性为10至0.01º/小时），尺寸为目前可用陀螺仪的1/100（0.1立方厘米（cc））和1/10的价格。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是通过惯性（运动）传感器实现下一代经济高效、高性能和高可靠性的应用。惯性传感器已经在手机和游戏行业产生了巨大的影响，因为他们的小尺寸和成本效益。这里进行的工作将使极高性能的陀螺仪（测量角度变化）用于商业，军事，航空航天和科学事业的主机。其中包括：消防员和部队的手持导航系统；用于警察、军事和商业应用（如房地产）的无人驾驶飞行器导航；工业机器人运动控制；宽带互联网的精确卫星指向；为战场上的每一支部队提供定位和导航系统。这些传感器也可用于外科手术机器人和轮椅控制。科学应用将包括为地面和太空望远镜提供精确的望远镜指向，用于观测太空和地球（用于研究气候）。这也将使研究人员能够购买最先进的运动控制传感器，以开发其他新的应用。

This Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase I project is to demonstrate the feasibility of the environment resistant resonant sensor (ERRS) process which will enable a next generation of high performance and high reliability sensors. In the last 5 years, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) inertial (motion) sensors have exploded into a wide range of consumer applications because they can be manufactured for $1 and are small enough to be integrated into mobile devices. In contrast, MEMS and other inertial sensors used in industrial, aerospace and military applications are significantly larger, more power hungry and extremely costly. This is because these devices require 50 to 100,000× better resolution/measurement stability (bias stability) and high reliability. MEMS gyroscopes (which measure angle change) have extreme difficulty achieving these performance levels because of their need for low vacuum pressure and their high temperature and vibration sensitivity. The ERRS process will address these challenges, with low vacuum pressures and a built in low-power oven and vibration isolation platform. Gyroscopes fabricated in the ERRS process are targeting state of the art performance (bias stabilities of 10 down to 0.01º/hour) at 1/100th the size (0.1 cubic centimeters (cc)) and 1/10th the price of currently available gyroscopes. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be to enable a next generation of cost efficient, high performance and high reliability applications enabled by inertial (motion) sensors. Inertial sensors have already had a huge impact in the cell phone and gaming industries because of their small size and cost efficiency. The work conducted here will enable extremely high performance gyroscopes (which measure angle change) for a host of commercial, military, aerospace and scientific endeavors. These include: handheld navigation systems for firefighters and troops; navigation of unmanned air vehicles for police, military and commercial applications such as real estate; motion control for industrial robots; precise satellite pointing for broadband internet; and targeting and navigation systems for every troop in the field. These sensors can also be used for surgical robots and wheel chair control. Scientific applications would include precise telescope pointing for terrestrial and space telescopes which look into space and to the earth (for studying the climate). This will also enable researchers to purchase state of the art motion control sensors for developing other new applications.