An inertial sensor, includes: a substrate; a fixing portion that is provided on the substrate; a first movable body that faces the substrate and that is displaceable with a first support beam as a first rotation axis; the first support beam that is arranged in a first direction and that couples the first movable body and the fixing portion; a second movable body that is displaceable due to deformation of a second support beam; the second support beam that is arranged in a second direction intersecting the first direction and that couples the first movable body and the second movable body; and a protrusion that is provided on the substrate or the second movable body, overlaps the second movable body in plan view from a third direction and that protrudes toward the second movable body or the substrate.

Described herein are methods and systems for configuring a motion sensor assembly to compensate for a temperature gradient. First and second sensors of the same type are arranged as opposing pairs with respect to a first axis that may be defined by a temperature gradient caused by at least one thermal element. Combining the output measurements of the first sensor and the second sensor allows effects of the temperature gradient on sensor measurements of the first sensor and the second sensor to be compensated.

A closed-loop microelectromechanical accelerometer includes a substrate of semiconductor material, an out-of-plane sensing mass and feedback electrodes. The out-of-plane sensing mass, of semiconductor material, has a first side facing the supporting body and a second side opposite to the first side. The out-of-plane sensing mass is also connected to the supporting body to oscillate around a non-barycentric fulcrum axis parallel to the first side and to the second side and perpendicular to an out-of-plane sensing axis. The feedback electrodes are capacitively coupled to the sensing mass and are configured to apply opposite electrostatic forces to the sensing mass.

An accelerometer comprising a first proof mass and a second proof mass which are coupled to each other with a coupling structure which extends from the first proof mass to the second proof mass. The coupling structure synchronizes the movement of the first and second proof masses so that the first and second proof masses may be linearly displaced from their rest position in the x-direction, rotationally displaced in opposite in-plane directions and rotationally displaced in opposite out-of-plane directions.

A micromechanical device including a substrate, a movable mass, and a stop spring structure, which includes a stop. The substrate includes a substrate surface in parallel to a main extension plane and the movable mass is situated movably above the substrate surface in relation to the substrate. The stop spring structure is connected to the movable mass. The stop is designed to strike against the substrate surface in the event of a deflection of the movable mass in a z direction, perpendicular to the main extension plane. The stop spring structure, at the location of the stop, includes a first spring constant, a second spring constant, in parallel to the main extension plane, and a third spring constant, in parallel to the main extension plane and perpendicular to the x direction. The first spring constant is greater than the second spring constant and/or is greater than the third spring constant.

In an inertial sensor, a first movable body configured to swing around a first rotation axisrotation axis along a first direction has an opening; the opening includes a second movable body configured to swing around a second rotation axisrotation axis along a second direction, a second support beam supporting the second movable body as the second rotation axisrotation axis, a third movable body configured to swing around a third rotation axisrotation axis along the second direction, and a third support beam supporting the third movable body as the third rotation axisrotation axis; and a protrusion is provided at a surface facing the second movable body and the third movable body, or at the second movable body and the third movable body, the protrusion protruding toward the second movable body and the third movable body or the surface.

An accelerometer for measuring acceleration in the direction of a z-axis which is perpendicular to an xy-plane, where a first proof mass is suspended from a first side anchor point with a first suspension structure which allows the first proof mass to undergo rotation about a first rotation axis. A second proof mass is suspended from a second side anchor point with a second suspension structure. The second suspension structure allows the second proof mass to undergo rotation about a second rotation axis. The torsion elements in the first and second suspension structure lie further away from the center of the accelerometer than the corresponding side anchor points from which the masses are suspended.

A microelectromechanical accelerometer for measuring acceleration, comprising a first proof mass and ae second proof mass. The first proof mass is adjacent to the second proof mass. A suspension structure allows the first proof mass to undergo rotation out of the device plane about a first rotation axis and the suspension structure allows the second proof mass to undergo rotation out of the device plane about a second rotation axis. The first and second rotation axes are parallel to each other and define an x-direction which is parallel to the first and the second rotation axes and a y-direction which is perpendicular to the x-direction. The y-coordinate of the first rotation axis is greater than the y-coordinate of the second rotation axis by a nonzero distance D.

An inertia sensor detects a physical quantity based on a displacement in a Z axis when three axes orthogonal to one another are defined as an X axis, a Y axis, and the Z axis. The inertial sensor includes: a substrate; and a movable body that is fixed to the substrate, that swings around a swing axis P along the X axis, and that has two flat surfaces facing each other and a side surface connecting the two flat surfaces. The movable body includes a first extension arranged at a predetermined angle with respect to the swing axis P and a second extension arranged facing the side surface of the first extension.

Disclosed herein are aspects of a multiple-mass, multi-axis microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometer sensor device with a fully differential sensing design that applies differential drive signals to movable proof masses and senses differential motion signals at sense fingers coupled to a substrate. In some embodiments, capacitance signals from different sense fingers are combined together at a sensing signal node disposed on the substrate supporting the proof masses. In some embodiments, a split shield may be provided, with a first shield underneath a proof mass coupled to the same drive signal applied to the proof mass and a second shield electrically isolated from the first shield provided underneath the sense fingers and biased with a constant voltage to provide shielding for the sense fingers.