Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Design and characterization of high sensitive MEMS capacitive microphone with fungous coupled diaphragm structure

  • Technical Paper
  • Published:
Microsystem Technologies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Capacitive microphone is a device which can be used to transform the acoustic to electrical signal. Diaphragm is one of the most important parts of a microphone which has two main roles. First, it deflects, due to the pressure of the acoustic wave, and second, it can be considered as one of the plates of the capacitor. In this paper, a novel type of diaphragm is proposed which can increase the sensitivity. In normal diaphragms, deflection decreases the effective area of the capacitor and as a result sensitivity is also decreased. Since in the proposed fungous coupled diaphragm, the effective area is independent to the deflection, it has no negative effect on the sensitivity. The results show that the effective mechanical sensitivity of the proposed design is as much as three times bigger, in comparison to the typical diaphragms. The mechanical sensitivity in the coupled diaphragm microphone and the circular diaphragm microphone are \(0.865\times 10^{-4}\) and \(2.245\times 10^{-4}\,\upmu\)m/Pa, respectively. The frequency response of the proposed microphone is so high that it can be easily used in aerospace applications, which need the frequency as high as 100 kHz. The lumped element model is used to calculate the frequency response.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Beeby S, Ensell G, Kraft M, White N (2004) MEMS mechanical sensors. Artech House MEMS Library, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackstock DT (2000) Fundamentals of physical acoustics. Wiley, Hoboken

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox RW, McDonald AT, Pritchard PJ (2004) Introduction to fluid mechanics, 6th edn. Wiley, New York (ch. 8)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraim F, Murphy P (1970) Miniature electret microphones. I. Audio Eng Sot I8:511–517

    Google Scholar 

  • Ganji BA, Majlis BY (2009) Design and fabrication of a novel single-chip mems capacitive microphone using slotted diaphragm. J Micro/Nanolithogr MEMS MOEMS 8(2):313–328

    Google Scholar 

  • Ganji BA, Majlis BY (2009) Design and fabrication of a new MEMS capacitive microphone using a perforated aluminum diaphragm. Sens Actuators A Phys 149(1):29–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall NA, Bicen B, Jeelani MK, Lee W, Qureshi S, Degertekin FL (2005) Micromachined microphones with diffraction-based optical displacement detection. J Acoust Soc Am 118(5):3000–3009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Her HC, Wu TL, Huang JH (2008) Acoustic analysis and fabrication of microelectromechanical system capacitive microphones. J Appl Phys 104:084509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Homentcovschi D, Miles RN (2004) Modeling of viscous damping of perforated planar microstructures, applications in acoustics. J Acoust Soc Am 116(5):2939–2947

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horowitz S, Nishida T, Cattafesta L, Sheplak M (2006) A micromachined piezoelectric microphone for aeroacoustics applications. In: Proceedings of solid-state sensor actuator workshop, Hilton Head Island pp 31–36

  • Huang C, Naguib A, Soupos E, Najafi K (2002) A silicon micromachined microphone for fluid mechanics research. J. Micromech Microeng 12(6):767–774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim HJ, Lee SQ, Park KH (2006) A novel capacitive type miniature microphone with a flexure hinge diaphragm. In: Proceedings of SPIE-the International Society for Optical Engineering, vol 6374

  • Li X, Lin R, Kek H, Miao J, Zou Q (2001) Sensitivity-improved silicon condenser microphone with a novel single deeply corrugated diaphragm. Sens Actuators A Phys 92(1–3):257–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma T, Man TY, Chan YC, Zohar Y, Wong M (2002) Design and fabrication of an integrated programmable floating-gate microphone. In: Proceedings of the fifteenth IEEE international conference on micro electro mechanical systems, pp 288–291

  • Martin DT, Liu J, Kadirvel K, Fox RM, Sheplak M, Nishida T (2007) A micromachined dual-backplate capacitive microphone for aeroacoustic measurements. J Microelectromech Syst 16(6):1289–1301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohamad N, Iovenitti P, Vinay T (2008) High sensitivity capacitive MEMS microphone with spring supported diaphragm. In: Proceedings of SPIE-the International Society for Optical Engineering, SPIE, Canberra, Australia, pp 68001T-1–68001T-9

  • Pedersen M, Schellin R, Olthuis W, Bergveld P (1997) Electroacoustical measurements of silicon microphones on wafer scale. J Acoust Soc Am 101(4):2122–2128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rombach P, Müllenborn M, Klein U, Rasmussen K (2002) The first low voltage, low noise differential silicon microphone, technology development and measurement results. Sens Actuators A Phys 95(2/3):196–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossi M (1988) Acoustics and electroacoustics. Artech House, Norwood (ch. 5/6)

    Google Scholar 

  • Royer M, Holmen JO, Wurm MA, Aadland OS, Glenn M (1983) ZnO on Si integrated acoustic sensor. Sens Actuators 4:357–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheeper PR, Olthuis W, Bergveld P (1991) Fabrication of a subminiature silicon condenser microphone using the sacrificial layer technique. In: Proceedings of international conference on solid-state sensor and actuators, pp 408–411

  • Scheeper PR, Olthuis W, Bergveld P (1992) Silicon condenser microphone with a silicon nitride diaphragm and backplate. J Micromech Microeng 2(3):187–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheeper PR, van der Donk AGH, Olthuis W, Bergveld P (1994) A review of silicon microphones. Sens Actuators A 44(1):1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheeper PR, Olthuis W, Bergveld P (1994) Design, fabrication, and testing of corrugated silicon nitride diaphragms. J Microelectromech Syst 3(1):36–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Senturia SD (2001) Microsystem design. Kluwer, Norwell

    Google Scholar 

  • Skvor Z (1967) On the acoustical resistance to viscous losses in the air gap of electrostatic transducers. Acoustica 19:295–299

    Google Scholar 

  • Sniegowski JJ, Rodgers MS (1997) Multi-layer enhancement to polysilicon surfacemicromachining technology. In: Proceedings of IEDM technical digest. IEEE, pp 903–906

  • Sprenkels AJ (1988) A silicon subminiature electret microphone. Ph.D. thesis, University of Twente

  • Suna Y, Fenga G, Georgioua G, Nivera E, Noeb K, Chin K (2008) Center embossed diaphragm design guidelines and Fabry–Perot diaphragm fiber optic sensor. Microelectron J 39:711–716

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Timoshenko S, Woinowsky-Krieger S (1959) Theory of plates and shells. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Torkkeli A, Rusanen O, Saarilahti J, Seppa H, Sipola H, Hietanen J (2000) Capacitive microphone with low- stress polysilicon membrane and high-stress polysilicon backplate. Sens Actuators A Phys 85(1–3):116–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wangsness RK (1986) Electromagnetic fields, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang CT (2010) The sensitivity analysis of a MEMS microphone with different membrane diameter. J Mar Sci Technol 18(6):790–796

    Google Scholar 

  • Ying M, Zou Q, Yi S (1998) Finite-element analysis of silicon condenser microphones with corrugated diaphragms. Finite Elem Anal Des 30:163–173

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, North Karegar Aven., Tehran, Iran

    Hassan Gharaei & Javad Koohsorkhi

Authors
  1. Hassan Gharaei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Javad Koohsorkhi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Javad Koohsorkhi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gharaei, H., Koohsorkhi, J. Design and characterization of high sensitive MEMS capacitive microphone with fungous coupled diaphragm structure. Microsyst Technol 22, 401–411 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-014-2406-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-014-2406-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation