Claims
- 1. A tunneling rotation sensor, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a cantilever having a portion extending from said substrate and a cantilever arm positioned away from said substrate, said cantilever arm comprising a first section and a second section,
- said cantilever arm further comprising flexible material and being constructed such that:
- a) said first section is wider than said second section and said first section is closer to said portion extending from said substrate than said second section;
- b) said cantilever arm is capable of deflection toward and away from said substrate; and
- c) said first section is more restricted than said second section from making lateral movements, and
- a tunneling electrode on said substrate beneath said first section such that a tunneling gap through which a current can flow is formed between said tunneling electrode and said first section.
- 2. The tunneling rotation sensor of claim 1 wherein said current flows through said cantilever arm when a voltage is established between said cantilever arm and said tunneling electrode.
- 3. The tunneling rotation sensor of claim 2, further comprising a first lateral control electrode and a second lateral control electrode both disposed on said substrate adjacent said second section of said cantilever arm.
- 4. The tunneling rotation sensor of claim 3, wherein said second section of said cantilever arm oscillates in directions not modifying said deflection when a corresponding voltage is established between said first and second lateral control electrodes and said cantilever arm such that when said sensor is rotated at a rate about an axis defined by said cantilever arm a Corlolis force is exerted on said cantilever arm in proportion to said rate.
Parent Case Info
This is a division of application Ser. No. 08/977,702 filed on Nov. 25, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,905,202 which is a divisional application of parent application Ser. No. 08/522,878 filed on Sep. 1, 1995 issued on May 26, 1998 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,756,895.
US Referenced Citations (19)
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Entry |
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Kenny, T.W. , et al. "Micromachined tunneling displacement transducers for physical sensors" Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology, Jul./Aug. 1993, pp. 797-802. |
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Divisions (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
977702 |
Nov 1997 |
|
Parent |
522878 |
Sep 1995 |
|