Bae Systems, Inc.

Atlantic Inertial Systems, Inc.

British Aerospace Public Limited Company

Sumitomo Precision Products

Ian Michael Sturland

Martyn John Hucker

Christopher Paul Fell

Tracey Hawke

Kevin Townsend

Clyde Warsop

David William Gough

Alexander Roy Parfitt

Mark David Balmond

Paul James Dawson

Ryuta Araki

Osamu Torayashiki

Rebecka Eley

Koji Nakamura

Alan P Pritchard

Michael Christopher Hebbron

Stephen P Lake

Tsuyoshi Takemoto

Christopher Colin Figgures

Mark Alcuin Venables

Alan Peter Pritchard

Toru Kitamura

Hiroshi Kawasaki

Steven J Harris

Mark Venables

Tracey Anne Hawke

A method for forming a MEMS structure for an inertial sensor from fused silica includes: depositing a conductive layer on one or more selected regions of a first surface of a fused silica substrate, and illuminating areas of the fused silica substrate with laser radiation in a pattern defining features of the MEMS structure for an inertial sensor. A masking layer is deposited at least on the one or more selected regions of the first surface of the fused silica substrate where the conductive layer has been deposited, such that the illuminated areas of the fused silica substrate remain exposed. A first etch of the exposed areas of the fused silica substrate is performed so as to selectively etch the pattern defining features of the MEMS structure for an inertial sensor.

Fabrication of MEMS structures from fused silica for inertial sensors

A corrosion sensor is described. The corrosion sensor comprises a substrateand a patterned conductive layer provided on the substratewherein the conductive layer defines: a common terminal; a set of terminals, including a first terminal and a second terminal; and a set of sensing elements, including a first sensing element and a second sensing element; wherein respective sensing elements of the set thereof are electrically coupled to the common terminal and to respective terminals of the set thereof, such that the respective terminals of the set thereof are specific to the respective sensing elements of the set thereof.

Corrosion sensor

A corrosion sensor for detecting the action of corrosive media on a metallic component when the sensor is mounted in the vicinity of the metallic component in use is disclosed. The sensor includes an electrically conducting corrodible element mounted on a non conducting substrate, the corrodible element being covered with a protective coating such as paint adapted to protect the corrodible element from corrosive media. The protective coating defines a temporary feature such as a paint defect which extends across the corrodible element and is designed to permit attack on the corrodible element by corrosive media after a predetermined period of time. The corrodible element comprises a pair of spaced tracks extending generally in a longitudinal direction and a series of corrodible tracks, each corrodible track extending generally in a lateral direction and forming an electrical connection between the spaced tracks. The temporary feature extends longitudinally, in the space between the pair of tracks, across a number of the corrodible tracks whereby to permit a corrosive attack on a number of the corrodible tracks after the predetermined period of time.

A method of reactive ion etching a substrateto form at least a first and a second etched feature () is disclosed. The first etched feature () has a greater aspect ratio (depth:width) than the second etched feature (). In a first etching stage the substrate () is etched so as to etch only said first feature () to a predetermined depth. Thereafter in a second etching stage, the substrate () is etched so as to etch both said first and said second features () to a respective depth. A mask () may be applied to define apertures corresponding in shape to the features (). The region of the substrate () in which the second etched feature () is to be produced is selectively masked with a second maskant () during the first etching stage, The second maskant () is then removed prior to the second etching stage.

Reactive ion etching

Improved thin film getter devices () comprise a layer () of getter material deposited on a substrate (). The layer has a main portion () and a cap portion (), which forms an external surface of the device. The cap portion has a lower specific area than the main portion.

Thin film getter devices

A separator is disclosed for separating particles of at least first and second mass/size ranges from an ambient fluid (e.g. gaseous) medium in which they are present, particles of the first range being of generally larger size/mass than particles of the second range. The separator is especially designed for use in an air monitoring device which is designed for rapid detection of micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses, pathogens and the like, and is designed to be portable so that it can be readily and rapidly deployed in both civilian and military environments and can be used indoors and outdoors; it can also be designed for personal use.

Particle separator

A vibrator, which is formed in a silicon waferby means of MEMS technique, has eight beam portions (beams)supported at a central portionand extending in the radial direction while mutually keeping the same angle and has a ring portionconnected to the eight beam portions. Outside the ring portion, eight electrodestofor electrostatic actuation, capacitance detection, or the like are spaced uniformly with a gapcreated between the ring portionand the electrodesto. Inside the ring portion, sixteen electrodesfor frequency adjustment are spaced uniformly with a gapcreated between the ring portionand the electrodes

Angular velocity sensor with vibrator having ring portion and electrodes positioned inside and outside the ring portion

A particle sampling device is disclosed for separating and collecting particles of at least first and second mass/size ranges from an ambient fluid (e.g. gaseous) medium in which they are present, particles of the first range being of generally larger size/mass than particles of the second range. The separator is especially designed for use in an air sampling device which is designed for rapid detection of micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses, pathogens and the like, and is designed to be portable so that it can be readily and rapidly deployed in both civilian and military environments and can be used indoors and outdoors; it can also be designed for personal use.

Particle sampling device

A microsensor for detecting corrosive media acting on a bulk metallic material when mounted in situ adjacent a location in the bulk metallic material. The microsensor includes a plurality of corrosion sensors (A,B,C) exposed to the corrosive media, each having corrosive tracks formed from a patterned conductive thin film. The different sensors have different characteristics, such as track width, track thickness, track composition, surface type, sensor type, etc. so as to provide the sensors with different sensitivities, corrosion indications and lifetime characteristics. Such microsensor arrangements provide improved corrosion detection at high degrees of miniaturisation.

Corrosion sensing microsensors

A vibrating structure gyroscope having a silicon substantially planar ring vibrating structure ( ) capacitive means for imparting drive motion to and sensing motion of the vibrating structure ( ), and a screen layer ( ) surrounding the capacitive means is made by depositing photoresist material ( ) on a glass or silicon substrate ( ), hardening, patterning and developing the photoresist ( ) to expose areas of the substrate ( ), etching the exposed areas to form cavities ( ) therein, stripping any remaining photoresist material ( ) attaching a silicon layer ( ) to the cavitated substrate ( ) depositing a layer of aluminium on the silicon layer ( ), depositing photoresist material on the aluminium layer, hardening, patterning and developing the photoresist layer to expose areas of the aluminium layer, etching the exposed areas of the aluminium layer to leave regions of aluminium on the silicon layer providing bond pads ( and ), stripping the remaining photoresist from the aluminium layer, depositing another layer of photoresist material on the silicon layer ( ) over the remaining deposited aluminium layer regions, hardening, patterning and developing the layer of photoresist material to expose areas of the silicon layer ( ) and deep reactive ion etching the exposed areas of the silicon layer ( ) to form therefrom the substantially planar ring vibrating structure ( ) mounted by a hub ( ) above the cavities ( ).

Method of manufacturing a vibrating structure gyroscope

A thermal picture synthesis device (1) of multi-layer construction has a resistor element (3) spaced from a semi-conductor substrate layer (2). The resistor element (3) is made of titanium or Ni-chrome. A drive element layer (4) is provided either in or attached to the substrate layer (2) for the resistor element (3). By placing the drive element layer parallel to and spaced from the resistor element (3) it is possible to pack a plurality of resistor elements (3) into a side by side adjacent array with a high fill factor or packing density and this coupled with the use of titanium or Ni-chrome for the resistor elements (3) and the spacing of these elements from the semi-conductor substrate (2) allows the device to operate at a higher apparent temperature than is conventional.

Growing community of inventors

Filton, United Kingdom

Ian Michael Sturland