リチウムタンタレート圧電材料を用いた小型バイモルフ振動子の振動特性

抄録

Micro-bimorph-type resonators, 1.014 mm thick, different widths, and made of 130-degrees-rotated Y-cut lithium tantalate piezoelectric materials with large piezoelectric effects and large Q-factors, have been developed for use in angular rate sensors. Their vibration characteristics were estimated by two laser-doppler vibrometers in order to determine the width of the resonator that can vibrate perpendicularly. The estimation showed that a 1.000-mm-wide resonator vibrated at an angle of approximately 56.9 degrees to the perpendicular axis but a 0.970-mm-wide resonator vibrated at an angle of approximately 3.33 degrees. In other words, the 1.000-mm-wide resonator cannot vibrate along the perpendicular axis but the 0.970-mm-wide one can. And it was found that mechanical coupling has a large influence on the 1.000-mm-wide resonator but has little influence on the 0.970-mm-wide one. It is thus concluded that since the 0.970-mm-wide resonator has desirable vibration characteristics, it can be used for a sensing element of an angular rate sensor.