An inertial sensor includes a mesoscaled disc resonator comprised of
micro-machined substantially thermally non-conductive wafer with low
coefficient of thermal expansion for sensing substantially in-plane
vibration, a rigid support coupled to the resonator at a central mounting
point of the resonator, at least one excitation electrode within an
interior of the resonator to excite internal in-plane vibration of the
resonator, and at least one sensing electrode within the interior of the
resonator for sensing the internal in-plane vibration of the resonator.
The inertial sensor is fabricated by etching a baseplate, bonding the
substantially thermally non-conductive wafer to the etched baseplate,
through-etching the wafer using deep reactive ion etching to form the
resonator, depositing a thin conductive film on the through-etched wafer.
The substantially thermally non-conductive wafer may comprise a silicon
dioxide glass wafer, which is a silica glass wafer or a borosilicate
glass wafer, or a silicon-germanium wafer.