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A Miniature Silicon Condenser Microphone Improved with a Flexure Hinge Diaphragm and a Large Back Volume

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Hyejin Kim ,
Sung Q Lee ,
Jaewoo Lee ,
Sangkyun Lee  and
Kangho Park
Hyejin Kim
Affiliation:
nolawara@etri.re.kr, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, IT-NT group, 161 Gajeong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-700, Korea, Republic of, +82-42-860-6152, +82-42-860-5608
Sung Q Lee
Affiliation:
hermann@etri.re.kr, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, 161 Gajeong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-700, Korea, Republic of
Jaewoo Lee
Affiliation:
jaewoo@etri.re.kr, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, 161 Gajeong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-700, Korea, Republic of
Sangkyun Lee
Affiliation:
sklee526@etri.re.kr, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, 161 Gajeong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-700, Korea, Republic of
Kangho Park
Affiliation:
pkh@etri.re.kr, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, 161 Gajeong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-700, Korea, Republic of
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Abstract

We have developed a miniature silicon condenser microphone improved with a spring supported hinge diaphragm and a large back volume, which is designed in order to increase sensitivity of microphones. MEMS Technology has been successfully applied to miniature silicon capacitive microphones, and we fabricated the smallest condenser silicon microphone in the presented reports. We used the finite-element analysis (FEA) to evaluate mechanical and acoustic performances of the condenser microphone with a flexure hinge diaphragm. From the simulation results, we confirmed that the sensitivity of a flexure hinge diaphragm can be improved about 285 times higher than a flat diaphragm. The first and second modes occurred at 15,637Hz and 24,387Hz, respectively. The areas of the miniature condenser microphones with a hinge diaphragm are 1.5 mm × 1.5 mm. We measured the impedance characteristics and sensitivities of the fabricated condenser microphones. The sensitivities of microphones are around 12.87 μV/Pa (-60 dB ref. 12.5 mV/Pa) at 1 kHz under a low bias voltage of 1 V, and the frequency response is flat up to 13 kHz.

Keywords

microelectro-mechanical (MEMS)sensoracoustic
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1052: Symposium DD – Microelectromechanical Systems–Materials and Devices , 2007 , 1052-DD06-21
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

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