  Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) gyroscopes are widely used, e.g. in
modern automotive and consumer applications, and require signal stability and
accuracy in rather harsh environmental conditions. In many use cases, device
reliability must be guaranteed under large external loads at high frequencies.
The sensitivity of the sensor to such external loads depends strongly on the
damping, or rather quality factor, of the high frequency mechanical modes of
the structure. In this paper, we investigate the influence of thermoelastic
damping on several high frequency modes by comparing finite element simulations
with measurements of the quality factor in an application-relevant temperature
range. We measure the quality factors over different temperatures in vacuum, to
extract the relevant thermoelastic material parameters of the polycrystalline
MEMS device. Our simulation results show a good agreement with the measured
quantities, therefore proving the applicability of our method for predictive
purposes in the MEMS design process. Overall, we are able to uniquely identify
the thermoelastic effects and show their significance for the damping of the
high frequency modes of an industrial MEMS gyroscope. Our approach is generic
and therefore easily applicable to any mechanical structure with many possible
applications in nano- and micromechanical systems.
