Silicon MEMS inertial sensors evolution over a quarter century

Silicon-based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) inertial sensors have become ubiquitous, revolutionizing motion sensing, vibration sensing and accurate positioning in several societal fields. Driven by consumer and automotive markets, companies involved in this technological development focused mostly on low cost, miniaturization and low power consumption, somewhat sacrificing measurement accuracy. In several laboratories all over the world, however, the research toward higher-performance sensors has been going on for more than two decades, with the goal of improving two key parameters for future applications: noise density and bias stability. This review article summarizes, for silicon-based MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes, the most relevant working principles that appeared in the scientific literature. The collection of several data about the above mentioned key figures enables tracing the roadmap for further developments in the upcoming decade.