Patent ID: 7093487

Claim:
An angular-rate detecting apparatus, comprising: a substrate; a plurality of mass portions juxtaposed to one another on the substrate in a predetermined direction; a support beam connecting the plurality of mass portions so as to enable each of the plurality of mass portions to be vibratable in a vibration direction substantially perpendicular to the predetermined direction along which the plurality of mass portions are juxtaposed to one another; a fixing portion fixing the support beam to the substrate; vibration generators vibrating two of the plurality of mass portions adjacent to each other in opposite phases in the vibration direction; and an angular rate detector detecting a displacement of a portion of the mass portions as an angular rate, displaced in a detection direction substantially perpendicular to the vibration direction in a state in which the mass portions are vibrating; wherein the vibration generators exert drive forces on the two mass portions adjacent to each other in opposite directions to each other; and among the plurality of mass portions, a ratio among the magnitudes of drive forces exerted on the respective mass portions by the vibration generators is substantially the same as a ratio among the products of masses and driven amplitudes of the corresponding mass portions.