A novel MEMS capacitive microphone using spring-type diaphragm

Microsystem Technologies - 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...     

High sensitivity and small size MEMS capacitive microphone using a novel slotted diaphragm

A novel single-chip microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) capacitive microphone with a slotted diaphragm for sound sensing is developed to minimize the microphone size and improve the sensitivity by decreasing the mechanical stiffness of the diaphragm. The behaviors of the microphones with clamped and slotted diaphragms are analyzed using the finite element method (FEM). According to the results, a clamped microphone with a 2.43 × 2.43 mm² diaphragm and a slotted one with a 1.5 × 1.5 mm² diaphragm have the same mechanical sensitivity, but the size of slotted microphone is at least 1.62 times smaller than clamped structure. The results also yield a sensitivity of 5.33 × 10⁻⁶ pF/Pa for the clamped and 3.87 × 10⁻⁵ pF/Pa for the slotted microphone with a 0.5 × 0.5 mm² diaphragm. The sensitivity of the slotted diaphragm is increased 7.27 times. The pull-in voltage of the clamped microphone is 105 V, and slotted one is 49 V. The pull-in voltage of the slotted microphone is about 53% decreased.     

Design and modeling of a frog-shape MEMS capacitive microphone using SOI technology

Microsystem Technologies - In this paper, a novel micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) capacitive microphone is designed and modeled using SOI technology. We present static linear spring...     

Design and fabrication of high performance condenser microphone using C-slotted diaphragm

Microsystem Technologies - In this paper, we present a new design of MEMS condenser microphone using SOI wafer. To improve the performance of the microphone, a perforated diaphragm with C-shape...     

Slotted capacitive microphone with sputtered aluminum diaphragm and photoresist sacrificial layer

In this paper, we have fabricated a new microphone using aluminum (Al) slotted perforated diaphragm and back plate electrode, and photoresist (AZ1500) sacrificial layer on silicon wafer. The novelty of this method relies on aluminum diaphragm includes some slots to reduce the effect of residual stress and stiffness of diaphragm for increasing the microphone sensitivity. The acoustic holes are made on diaphragm to reduce the air damping, and avoid the disadvantages of non standard silicon processing for making back chamber and holes in back plate, which are more complex and expensive. Photoresist sacrificial layer is easy to deposition by spin coater and also easy to release by acetone. Moreover, acetone has a high selectivity to resist compared to silicon oxide and Al, thus it completely removes sacrificial resist without incurring significant damage silicon oxide and Al. The measured zero bias capacitance is 17.5 pF, and its pull-in voltage is 25 V. The microphone has been tested with external amplifier and speaker, the external amplifier was able to detect the sound waves from microphone on speaker and oscilloscope. The maximum amplitude of output speech signal of amplifier is 45 mV, and the maximum output of MEMS microphone is 1.125 μV.     

Design and fabrication of high sensitive microphone diaphragm using deep corrugation technique

In this paper, single deeply corrugated diaphragm (SDCD) with various corrugation depths and initial stresses are studied extensively for applications to micromachinined high-sensitivity devices. Both theoretical analysis and finite-element-model (FEM) simulation results show that significant improvement in sensitivity can be achieved using the diaphragm with larger corrugation depth. The measured mechanical sensitivity of the SDCD structure shows reasonable agreement with the theoretical prediction. The SDCD structures with various corrugation depths have been applied to the realization of high-sensitivity microphones. The measurements show that deep corrugation technique is promising in its applications to high-sensitivity devices.     

A new hybrid fabrication process for a high sensitivity MEMS microphone

A novel multi-layer stacking capacitive type microphone is designed in this study based on theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, while fabricated via two standard stable silicon-based MEMS processes—PolyMUMPs and SOIMUMPs. The adoption of two standardized processes helps greatly to increase yield rate. The sensitivity of the microphone is first determined by an analytical model based on an equivalent circuit, which is followed by finite element (FEM) analyses on the capacitance value, static pull-in voltage and dynamic characteristics. Based on the developed analytical model, varied dimensions of the microphone are optimized and then the performance is validated by analytical simulations. In the next step, micro-fabrication of the microphone is accomplished using two standard processes, PolyMUMPs and SOIMUMPs provided by MEMSCAP. Experiments are conducted to acquire the information of pull-in voltage for safe operation and frequency response in sensitivity for performance evaluation. In the static case, experimental results show a good agreement with the analytical results with 90 Mpa residual stress assumed. As for dynamic validation, the frequency response is measured in an anechoic room adopting the exciting frequency as the audible range from 100–10 kHz. The measured sensitivity is as around 0.78 and 1.7 mV/Pa from 100 to 10 kHz, under the biases of 2 and 4.5 V, respectively. Within the audible frequency range, the proposed device maintains the loss as less as 2.7 dB (ref. to V/Pa), under 3 dB—the commonly acceptable drop within audible frequency range.     

Design and fabrication of silicon condenser microphone usingcorrugated diaphragm technique

A novel silicon condenser microphone with a corrugated diaphragm has been proposed, designed, fabricated and tested. The microphone is fabricated on a single wafer by use of silicon anisotropic etching and sacrificial layer etching techniques, so that no bonding techniques are required. The introduction of corrugations has greatly increased the mechanical sensitivities of the microphone diaphragms due to the reduction of the initial stress in the thin films, For the purpose of further decreasing the thin film stress, composite diaphragms consisting of multilayer (polySi/Si_xN_y/polySi) materials have been fabricated, reducing the initial stress to a much lower level of about 70 MPa in tension. Three types of corrugation placements and several corrugation depths in a diaphragm area of 1 mm² have been designed and fabricated. Microphones with flat frequency response between 100 Hz and 8~16 kHz and open-circuit sensitivities as high as 8.1~14.2 mV/Pa under the bias voltages of 10~25 V have been fabricated in a reproducible way. The experimental results proved that the corrugation technique is promising for silicon condenser microphone     

Design and fabrication of a new miniaturized capacitive accelerometer

A novel mercury-based capacitive accelerometer has been designed and fabricated. The accelerometer features a highly symmetrical cubic structure and capacitive coupling of the high-frequency input voltage, which uses a mercury drop for spring material and flexible interconnection layer between the capacitor plates. The device is mounted on a standard IC package with dimensions of 5 mm × 5 mm × 5 mm. The structure, working principle, fabrication, and mathematical model of the accelerometer are presented. Since the accelerometer uses a mercury drop as its sensitive electrode instead of a solid, which is commonly used in traditional accelerometers, the conflict between the requirements of high shock and high sensitivity is solved. The measurement results show a sensitivity of 0.2 mV (m s⁻²)⁻¹ with a corresponding resolution of 0.01 ms⁻², off-axis sensitivity of <5% and good linearity in the output voltage for accelerations up to at least 10 m s⁻².     

CMOS integrated elliptic diaphragm capacitive pressure sensor in SiGe MEMS

A novel CMOS integrated Micro-Electro-Mechanical capacitive pressure sensor in SiGe MEMS (Silicon Germanium Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) process is designed and analyzed. Excellent mechanical stress–strain behavior of Polycrystalline Silicon Germanium (Poly-SiGe) is utilized effectively in this MEMS design to characterize the structure of the pressure sensor diaphragm element. The edge clamped elliptic structured diaphragm uses semi-major axis clamp springs to yield high sensitivity, wide dynamic range and good linearity. Integrated on-chip signal conditioning circuit in 0.18 μm TSMC CMOS process (forming the host substrate base for the SiGe MEMS) is also implemented to achieve a high overall gain of 102 dB for the MEMS sensor. A high sensitivity of 0.17 mV/hPa (@1.4 V supply), with a non linearity of around 1 % is achieved for the full scale range of applied pressure load. The diaphragm with a wide dynamic range of 100–1,000 hPa stacked on top of the CMOS circuitry, effectively reduces the combined sensor and conditioning implementation area of the intelligent sensor chip.     

一种低噪声MEMS加速度计设计与制作

为了提高微加速度计的噪声性能,研究了一种基于绝缘体上硅(SOI)技术的单轴MEMS加速度计的设计和加工方案。该微加速度计采用大面积质量块的电容式检测结构,通过增加检测质量,在保证灵敏度的前提下,有效地降低了微加速度计的机械布朗噪声,增强了信噪比。另外,该微加速度计采用一种基于Al保护层的MEMS SOI工艺技术制造,有利于提高微加速度计的整体精度水平。测试结果表明:微加速度计的本底噪声为20μgn/√Hz,灵敏度为2.5 V/gn。     

Numerical simulation and modelling of a novel MEMS capacitive accelerometer based microphone for fully implantable hearing aid

Microsystem Technologies - The present work proposes a novel MEMS capacitive accelerometer based microphone with enhanced sensitivity. The accelerometer design is simulated in COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS...     

Design and analysis of perforated MEMS resonator

Microsystem Technologies - In this paper, we have designed an optimal design of microelectromechanical (MEMS) resonator. The paper explains the idea of suitable design, modeling and optimization of...     

Design and optimization of a MEMS electret-based capacitive energy scavenger

In this paper, a method for the design and optimization of an electret-based vibration-to-electric microconverter is presented, using a nonlinear dynamical model of the device. The dynamics of the converter is analyzed in detail, showing the importance of properly accounting for the nonlinearity in the optimization process. A procedure to determine a set of optimization parameters is finally presented.     

高精度电容式MEMS加速度计系统设计

在传统Σ-Δ架构基础上,引入了低精度高速模/数转换器(ADC),将前置放大器输出的模拟电压信号转换为数字信号,有利于简化电容式微电子机械系统(MEMS)加速度计系统模拟接口电路设计.在嵌入ADC的MEMS加速度系统中,采用过采样平均数字算法对信号进行估计,有效降低系统对前置放大器噪声性能的需求,利于实现低功耗和高精度的设计目标.仿真结果表明:与未采用过采样平均技术相比,当前置放大器输出等效噪声大于1μV/Hz时,系统的信噪比(SNR)提高了约10dB.     

A new measurement microphone based on MEMS technology

This paper presents a new type of measurement microphone that is based on MEMS technology. The silicon chip design and fabrication are discussed, as well as the specially developed packaging technology. The microphones are tested on a number of key parameters for measurement microphones: sensitivity, noise level, frequency response, and immunity to disturbing environmental parameters, such as temperature changes, humidity, static pressure variations, and vibration. A sensitivity of 22 mV/Pa (-33 dB re. 1 V/Pa), and a noise level of 23 dB(A) were measured. The noise level is 7 dB lower than state-of-the-art 1/4-inch measurement microphones. A good uniformity on sensitivity and frequency response has been measured. The sensitivity to temperature changes, humidity, static pressure variations and vibrations is fully comparable to the traditional measurement microphones. This paper shows that high-quality measurement microphones can be made using MEMS technology, with a superior noise performance.     

电容式MEMS超声传感器设计与分析

目前电容式MEMS超声传感器（CMUS）多为收发一体结构,但二种工作模式对传感器结构要求存在很大差异,设计时为了兼顾收发性能往往不能使传感器性能达到最优;此外,传统的电容式MEMS超声传感器还存在寄生电容大的缺点。针对以上问题,基于收发分离的思想,设计了一种专用作超声接收的MEMS电容式传感器,结构上采用上下电极引线互错,单元间电极联线交错的方式来减小寄生电容。通过理论分析和ANSYS仿真得到所设计传感器的最佳工作电压为586V,灵敏度为174.2fF/Pa,满足现有超声接收传感器的应用要求。     

基于MEMS技术的微电容式加速度传感器的设计

给出了一种基于MEMS技术制作的微电容式加速度传感器的结构及工艺。为了准确地把握这种微电容式加速度传感器的力学和电学特性,仔细地建立了它的力学模型。在此基础上,详细分析了它的动态特性———模态。并用有限元的方法分析和计算了微电容式加速度传感器的加速度与电容信号的非线性输入输出关系,并结合实测参数验证了模型的有效性。最后提出了一种详细的有效的基于MEMS技术的微电容式加速度传感器的结构以及加工工艺流程。基于MEMS技术制作的微电容式加速度传感器具有结构简单、工作可靠和工作范围大的特点。根据这套方法,可以比较方便地设计并加工不同测量要求的加速度计。