Udo-Martin Gomez

Micromachined Angular Rate Sensors for Automotive Applications

Micromachined angular rate sensors are key elements in several automotive systems, thus enabling highly sophisticated applications like rollover detection and mitigation, navigation systems, electronic stability program, and other future vehicle stabilizing and dynamics control systems. New automotive systems are demanding higher accuracy, better signal-to-noise ratio, higher robustness and insensitivity against external perturbations, better system availability and reliability, as well as easy application of the gyros. This paper is presenting the recent development, now the third generation, of micromachined angular rate sensors at Robert Bosch GmbH. Mass production was started in spring 2005. These surface micromachined gyroscopes exhibit outstanding performance compared to similar designs, especially in term of resolution, noise, and insensitivity against external perturbations

New surface micromachined angular rate sensor for vehicle stabilizing systems in automotive applications

Current developments in vehicle dynamics control systems and future advanced high performance vehicle stabilizing systems demand higher performance of the inertial signals of the vehicles dynamics, especially the angular rate signals: higher accuracy and better signal to noise ratio, high signal refresh rates, higher robustness and insensitivity against external interference, higher system availability and reliability, easier applicability (e.g. additional measuring axes). This paper presents a third generation angular rate sensor cluster MM3.x suitable for high volume production, meeting those demands. Design concepts of the core component - the new angular rate sensor module SMG - are unveiled, giving it outstanding functional performance compared to similar surface micromachined gyroscopes.

MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) for Automotive and Consumer Electronics

MEMS sensors gained over the last two decades an impressive width of applications: (a) ESP: A car is skidding and stabilizes itself without driver intervention (b) Free-fall detection: A laptop falls to the floor and protects the hard drive by parking the read/write drive head automatically before impact. (c) Airbag: An airbag fires before the driver/occupant involved in an impending automotive crash impacts the steering wheel, thereby significantly reducing physical injury risk. MEMS sensors are sensing the environmental conditions and are giving input to electronic control systems. These crucial MEMS sensors are making system reactions to human needs more intelligent, precise, and at much faster reaction rates than humanly possible. Important prerequisites for the success of sensors are their size, functionality, power consumption, and costs. This technical progress in sensor development is realized by micro-machining. The development of these processes was the breakthrough to industrial mass-production for micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). Besides leading-edge micromechanical processes, innovative and robust ASIC designs, thorough simulations of the electrical and mechanical behaviour, a deep understanding of the interactions (mainly over temperature and lifetime) of the package and the mechanical structures are needed. This was achieved over the last 20 years by intense and successful development activities combined with the experience of volume production of billions of sensors. This chapter gives an overview of current MEMS technology, its applications and the market share. The MEMS processes are described, and the challenges of MEMS, compared to standard IC fabrication, are discussed. The evolution of MEMS requirements is presented, and a short survey of MEMS applications is shown. Concepts of newest inertial sensors for ESP-systems are given with an emphasis on the design concepts of the sensing element and the evaluation circuit for achieving excellent noise performance. The chapter concludes with an outlook on arising new MEMS applications such as energy harvester and micro fuel cells.

MEMS—Micro-Electromechanical Sensors for the Internet of Everything

Automotive safety applications were the cradle of the MEMS market over many years. Their persistent improvement in cost and size launched the wide application of MEMS in consumer applications as well, starting from year 2009, outpassing in numbers the automotive MEMS volume within only 3 years. The consumer MEMS annual growth rate today is 18 %. Following a steep learning-curve, their form factor was reduced by more than 10-times within 5 years. Concurrently, cost, embodied materials and energy consumption of MEMS devices came down to an extent that basic integrated units contain now a multitude of sensors, with 9 degrees-of-freedom, by 2013. Virtually unlimited new applications which are strong in sensors emerge, enabling the Internet-of-Everything.

Mikromechanische Sensoren für Automobilanwendungen

Mikromechanische Sensoren sind zu einem unverzichtbaren Element der Automobilelektronik geworden. In diesem Beitrag der Robert Bosch GmbH werden Anwendungen fur mikromechanische Sensoren im Automobil vorgestellt, und es wird einen Ausblick auf zukunftige Einsatzgebiete gegeben.