Design of a Micro-Electro Mechanical System Quad Mass Gyroscope with Compliant Mechanical Amplification

In this work, a novel mechanical amplification structure for a MEMS vibratory gyroscope is proposed with the aim of improving their sensitivity. The scheme is implemented using a system of micromachined V-shaped springs as a deflection amplifying mechanism. The effectiveness of the mechanism is first demonstrated for a capacitive fully decoupled quad mass gyroscope. A proof of concept vertical-axis mechanically amplified gyroscope with an amplification factor of 365% has been designed, simulated and fabricated, and results from its evaluation are presented in this paper. Experimental results show that the natural frequency of the gyroscope is 11.67 KHz, and the full scale measurement range is up to ±400°/s with a maximum nonlinearity of 54.69 ppm. The bias stability is 44.53°/h. The experiment results show that this quad mass gyroscope's performance is a very potential new way of reaching the navigation grade in the future.

A microelectromechanical system (MEMS) capacitive accelerometer-based microphone with enhanced sensitivity for fully implantable hearing aid: a novel analytical approach

The present work proposes a novel, compact, intuitively simple and efficient structure to improve the sensitivity of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) capacitive accelerometer using an arrangement of microlever as a displacement amplifier. The accelerometer is proposed to serve as a microphone in the fully implantable cochlear prosthetic system which can be surgically implanted at the middle ear bone structure. Therefore, the design parameters such as size, weight and resonant frequency require deliberation. The paper presents a novel analytical model considering the impact of the mechanical amplification along with the width of the microlever and the capacitive fringe effects on the performance of the sensor. The design is simulated and verified using COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS 4.2. The accelerometer is designed within a sensing area of 1 mm2 and accomplishes a nominal capacitance of 4.85 pF and an excellent sensitivity of 5.91 fF/g.

Kinetics of small molecule interactions with membrane proteins in single cells measured with mechanical amplification

Measuring small molecule interactions with membrane proteins in single cells is critical for understanding many cellular processes and for screening drugs. However, developing such a capability has been a difficult challenge. We show that molecular interactions with membrane proteins induce a mechanical deformation in the cellular membrane, and real-time monitoring of the deformation with subnanometer resolution allows quantitative analysis of small molecule-membrane protein interaction kinetics in single cells. This new strategy provides mechanical amplification of small binding signals, making it possible to detect small molecule interactions with membrane proteins. This capability, together with spatial resolution, also allows the study of the heterogeneous nature of cells by analyzing the interaction kinetics variability between different cells and between different regions of a single cell.