Fully balanced micro-machined inertial sensor

[0088]The illustrated embodiments disclose a balanced Coriolis vibratory gyroscope architecture that is force and torque balanced on both x and y modes. In contrast to tuning fork Coriolis Vibratory Gyroscopes, which are torque balanced only on one axis, this architecture is torque balanced on both axes (modes). As a result anchor losses are minimized not only on one but on two axes, which helps achieve high Q-factor on both modes of the Coriolis Vibratory Gyroscope.

[0089]One implementation of such an architecture is a z-axis gyroscope 10 depicted in FIG. 1 where the gyroscope 10 is sensitive to rotation along the out-of-plane z axis. The gyroscope 10 is force and torque balanced as a result anchor losses are minimized not only one but two axes. Which helps achieve high Q-factor on both modes of the Coriolis Vibratory Gyroscope, diagrammatically depicted in FIG. 2. The gyroscopic mechanical element is comprised of two proof masses, a central tine 12 and a frame 14 around it. The frame