Abstract
In this paper, we present a new design of diaphragm that supported by frog arms for MEMS capacitive microphone structure. The proposed diaphragm reduces the air damping and diaphragm stiffness to improve the microphone sensitivity. The behaviour of the microphones with clamped and supported diaphragm by frog arms are analysed and simulated using finite element method (FEM). The structure has a perforated aluminium diaphragm with a thickness of 3 µm, a diaphragm size of 0.5 mm × 0.5 mm, and an air gap of 1 µm. According to the results, the mechanical sensitivity of the new microphone is 9.893 nm/Pa and pull-in voltage is 2.25 V whereas the clamped one with same diaphragm size has a mechanical sensitivity of 0.309 nm/Pa and pull-in voltage of 44.6 V. By introducing the frog arms around the diaphragm, the mechanical sensitivity increased 32 times. The results also yield a capacitance sensitivity of 0.15 fF/Pa for clamped microphone and 27.45 fF/Pa for supported one with frog arms. The pull-in voltage of the supported microphone by frog arms has decreased about 95% compared with clamped one.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmadnejad J, Ganji BA (2015) A MEMS capacitive microphone modeling for integrated circuits. IJE Trans C 28:888–895
Chen J, Liu L, Li Z, Tan Z, Xu Y, Ma J (2002) Single-chip condenser miniature microphone with a high sensitive circular corrugated diaphragm. In: Proceedings of the IEEE micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), Las Vegas, NV, pp 284–287
Chowdhury S, Jullien GA, Ahmadi MA, Miller WC (2000) MEMS acousto-magnetic components for use in a hearing instrument. In: Presented at SPIE’s symposium on design, test, integration, and packaging of MEMS/MOEMS, Paris, France
Chowdhury S, Ahmadi M, Miller WC (2003) Nonlinear effects in MEMS capacitive microphone design. In: Proceedings of the international conference on MEMS, nano and smart systems (ICMENS’03), IEEE, pp 1–6
Feiertag G, Winter M, Bakardjiev P, Schröder E et al (2011) Determining the acoustic resistance of small sound holes for MEMS microphones. Procedia Eng 25:1509–1512
Feyzi A, Rezazadeh G (2010) Effect of thermal stresses on stability and frequency response of a capacitive microphone. Microelectron J 41:865–873
Fuldner M, Dehe A, Lerch R (2005) Analytical analysis and finite element simulation of advanced membranes for silicon microphones. Sens J IEEE 5:857–863
Ganji BA, Majlis BY (2009) Design and fabrication of a new MEMS capacitive microphone using a perforated aluminum diaphragm. Sens Actuators A 149:29–37
Ganji BA, Majlis BY (2010) Slotted capacitive microphone with sputtered aluminum diaphragm and photoresist sacrificial layer. Microsyst Technol 16:1803–1809
Gharaei H, Koohsorkhi J, Saniei F, Abbasi A (2013) Design and characterization of a high sensitive MEMS capacitive microphone using coupled membrane structure. In: Robotics and mechatronics (ICRoM), first RSI/ISM international conference, pp 374–377
Hsu PC, Mastrangelo CH, Wise KD (1988) A high density polysilicon diaphragm condenser microphone. In: Conference record of the IEEE 11th international workshop on micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), pp 580–585
Khader MM, Sweilam NH (2016) Singularly perturbed BVP to estimation of diaphragm deflection in MEMS capacitive microphone: an application of ADM. Appl Math Comput 281:214–222
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, Boston, MA
Kimori N, Kumai Y, Hishinuma S, Irehara T, Maeda R, Nishioka Y (2013) Ten-micrometer-thick silicon diaphragm used in condenser microphone. Key Eng Mater 538:277–280
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, vol 6800
Ning J, Liu Z, Liu H, Ge Y (2044) A silicon capacitive microphone based on oxidized porous silicon sacrificial technology. In: Proceedings of the 7th IEEE international conference on solid-state and integrated circuits technology, pp 1872–1875
Shu Z, Ke M-L, Chen G-W, Horng R-H (2008) Design and fabrication of condenser microphone using wafer transfer and micro-electroplating technique. In: Design, test, integration and packaging of MEMS/MOEMS symposium, pp 386–390
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 85:116–123
Weigold JW, Brosnihan TJ, Bergeron J, Zhang X (2066) A MEMS condenser microphone for consumer applications. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), pp 86–89, Istanbul
Yang C (2010) The sensitivity analysis of a MEMS microphone with different membrane diameters. J Mar Sci Technol 18:790–796
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sedaghat, S.B., Ganji, B.A. A novel MEMS capacitive microphone using spring-type diaphragm. Microsyst Technol 25, 217–224 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-018-3951-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-018-3951-x