Circuit and method for driving a micro-electro-mechanical resonator of a gyroscope with a reduced excitation of spurious harmonics

A method for driving a driving resonator stage of a MEMS gyroscope including a first driving electrode, a second driving electrode and a movable mass configured to oscillate according to a driving mode having a corresponding resonance frequency, the method comprising:

• receiving an electrical position signal indicative of the position of the movable mass and generating a reference signal phase-locked and frequency-locked with the electrical position signal;
• generating, based on the reference signal, a first driving signal and a second driving signal;
• causing the movable mass to oscillate with a frequency equal to the resonant frequency by:
• subjecting the movable mass to a first electrostatic force by applying the first driving signal to the first driving electrode;
• and
• subjecting the movable mass to a second electrostatic force by applying the second driving signal to the second driving electrode;
• wherein each of the first and the second driving signals includes, for each period of the reference signal, a corresponding pulse, the pulses of the first and the second driving signals being temporally alternated and having a same duration, the ratio between the duration and the period of the reference signal being in the range [0.3-0.37] or in the range [0.63-0.7].

A method, comprising:

• generating an electrical position signal indicative of the position of a movable mass of a MEMS gyroscope;
• generating a reference signal that is phase-locked and frequency-locked with the electrical position signal;
• generating, based on the reference signal, a first driving signal having first pulses each having a first duration;
• generating, based on the reference signal, a second driving signal having second pulses that do not overlap with the first pulses and each having a second duration, a sum of the first duration and the second duration being less than a period of the reference signal;
• causing the movable mass to oscillate at a resonant frequency of the movable mass by applying the first driving signal to a first driving electrode adjacent to the movable mass and by applying the second driving signal to a second driving electrode adjacent to the movable mass.