Microsystem Technologies

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-018-3951-x (012 3456789().

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TECHNICAL PAPER

A novel MEMS capacitive microphone using spring-type diaphragm

Sedighe Babaei Sedaghat1 • Bahram Azizollah Ganji1

Received: 3 May 2018 / Accepted: 11 May 2018

Ó Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018

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 lm, a diaphragm
size of 0.5 mm 9 0.5 mm, and an air gap of 1 lm. 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.

1 Introduction aluminum seed layer, then process for fabrication of them

are typically long, cumbersome, expensive, and not com-
The MEMS capacitive microphones can be made with high patible with high volume process (Chowdhury et al. 2000).
sensitivity, flat frequency response, and low noise level Ganji and Majlis (2009) presented a new MEMS
compared with piezoelectric and piezoresistive micro- capacitive microphone using perforated aluminum dia-
phones. The majority of micromachined capacitive phragm, mono crystalline silicon wafer as a back plate, and
microphones used fully clamped diaphragm with a perfo- silicon oxide as a sacrificial and isolating layer between
rated back plate (Ning et al. 2044; Kimori et al. 2013). back plate and diaphragm, to make small size, low cost and
Process for fabrication of them is typically long, difficult easy to fabricate microphone structure. Various types of
and expensive. In addition, they are not small in size. Many edge-clamped diaphragms such as corrugated and low-
conventional MEMS capacitive microphones are fabricated stress poly silicon diaphragms have been studied to reduce
in high temperature (Hsu et al. 1988), that the structure will the diaphragm stress and stiffness to increase their
be damaged. For making back chamber from the backside mechanical sensitivity (Torkkeli et al. 2000; Chen et al.
of the wafer by KOH etching is slow, boring and several 2002; Ganji and Majlis 2010; Gharaei et al. 2013; Yang
hundred micrometers of substrate must be etched to make 2010). Some MEMS microphones have been presented,
the chamber. Additionally, since the back plate requires which have free movable diaphragms supported by several
acoustic holes, the silicon substrate must be etched very springs around their edges to further reduce the diaphragm
deep from the backside of the wafer, therefore a nonstan- stress which will gradually increase the mechanical sensi-
dard photo lithographic process must be used that requires tivity (Kim et al. 2006; Weigold et al. 2066; Mohamad
the electrochemical deposition of the photoresist and an et al. 2008; Feyzi and Rezazadeh 2010; Feiertag et al.
2011; Ahmadnejad and Ganji 2015; Khader and Sweilam
2016).
& Bahram Azizollah Ganji Despite all mentioned methods, the microphone sensi-
[email protected] tivity was low and its pull in voltage was high. In this
Sedighe Babaei Sedaghat paper, the aim is to overcome the disadvantages of the prior
[email protected] works by designing a novel MEMS capacitive microphone
1
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Babol
using a perforated diaphragm supported by frog arms.
Noshirvani University of Technology, 484, Babol, Iran

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2 Diaphragm design Table 1 Physical parameters of diaphragm

Poisson ratio 0.36
Figure 1a shows the simple schematic of the proposed Young modulus, E (GPa) 64
MEMS microphone. It consists of a perforated membrane Diaphragm material Aluminum
with frog arms, an air gap and a back plate. Top view of the Diaphragm thickness (lm) 3
proposed diaphragm structure is shown in Fig. 1b. In our Diaphragm area (mm2) 0.25
design, the thickness of the aluminum diaphragm
(0.5 mm 9 0.5 mm) is 3 lm, the area of the 20 lm 9
20 lm acoustic holes is 0.0144 mm2, and the height of the
air gap is about 1 lm. The design parameters of the 3 Modeling of proposed microphone
microphone include diaphragm dimension, size and holes
density of diaphragm, back plate dimension and height of Modeling of the equivalent spring constant, pull-in voltage,
air gap. The physical parameters of diaphragm are shown resonance frequency for proposed microphone is presented
in Table 1. in this section.
The novelty of the proposed structure is using frog arms
to suspend movable diaphragm over the back plate, to 3.1 Modeling of equivalent spring constant
make uniform deflection. Also some holes and slots allow
the air to escape in the gap between electrode and dia- Because of continuity in several parts of the microphone,
phragm, thus acoustical damping is reduced in microphone. there is an elastic force over the structure. Etch section has
The small diaphragm causes low sensitivity, but frog arms various spring constants. Thus, by mechanical modeling of
around the diaphragm can improve the sensitivity of the diaphragm, etch section of arm will be modeled with a
microphone by reducing the circumferential suspension. spring. According to the continuity of different sections
and the superposition principle for linear systems, equiv-
alent spring constant of the structure will be obtained. Then
using approximate model, we can calculate the parameters
of proposed microphone. In following, the mechanical
modeling will be considered. It can be seen that the
structure of the diaphragm is the composite of several
springs. Four arms are modeled as four parallel springs. A
schematic diagram of the springs modeling for one arm is
illustrated in Fig. 2. Due to same displacement of beams,
K1, K2, K3 and K4 are series.
The system will be considered in linear mode, due to
negligibility mass and damping of the springs. A linear
system confirms the principle of superposition. Bending of
the diaphragm is in Z-axis, so the springs will be modeled
at Z direction. First, we calculate the spring constant of
etch section separately. As shown in Fig. 3, each arm
consists of 4 series springs (K1, K2, K3 and K4).

Fig. 1 a Cross-section of proposed microphone. b Top view of

proposed diaphragm Fig. 2 A schematic springs modeling for one arm of the diaphragm

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Fig. 4 A simplified schematic springs modeling of the diaphragm

3.2 Modeling of pull-in voltage

Fig. 3 A schematic springs modeling of whole diaphragm Determination of pull-in voltage is very important in
MEMS capacitive structure. To calculate pull-in voltage,
The spring constant of each guided-end beam is: the structure is assumed to be in a vacuum. A lumped
element model of a capacitor with movable is shown in
EW1 ðt1 Þ3
K1 ¼ ð1Þ Fig. 5.
ðL1 Þ3 According to Newton law, the acceleration is related to
EW2 ðt2 Þ3 forces and mass which is expressed as:
K2 ¼ ð2Þ X
ðL2 Þ3 F ¼ ma: ð8Þ

EW3 ðt3 Þ3 Neglecting the damping effect, the motion equation of

K3 ¼ 3
ð3Þ
ðL3 Þ the movable plate, because of the electrostatic attraction
force (FE) is created by DC voltage (VDC), can be repre-
EW4 ðt4 Þ3 sented as (Chowdhury et al. 2003):
K4 ¼ ð4Þ
ðL4 Þ3
d2 x
FE  Fx ¼ m : ð9Þ
where E is young modulus, t is the thickness dt2
(t1 ¼ t2 ¼ t3 ¼ t4 ¼ t), W is width of spring and L1, L2, L3 The electrostatic attraction force, FE, can be calculated
and L4 are lengths of 4 series springs. The spring constants by:
of the K1, K2, K3 and K4 are obtained using Euler–Bernoulli
equation for springs. Spring constant for the combination
of springs is given by:
1 1 1 1 1
¼ þ þ þ : ð5Þ
K 0 K1 K2 K3 K4
Because of wL31 ; wL34  wL32 , wL33 , the calculated results show
1 4 2 3
that K1;4  100K2;3 . Therefore Eq. (5) can be summarized
as follows:
1 1 1
¼ þ : ð6Þ
K 0 K2 K3
According to Fig. 4, the total diaphragm spring constant,
Keq , will be calculated as:
Keq ¼ 4K 0 : ð7Þ

Fig. 5 Lumped model of a movable plate capacitor

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  diaphragm and m is the diaphragm mass which is expressed

d 1 eAeff V 2
FE ¼  CV 2 ¼ ð10Þ as:
dx 2 2ðd  xÞ2
m ¼ q  veq ¼ q  Aeff  t: ð18Þ
where Aeff is the effective area of capacitor plate and d is
the initial air gap thickness. At equilibrium, neglecting the By substituting Eqs. (7) and (18) in (17), the following
time dependent term in Eq. (9): expression for the resonance frequency of proposed dia-
phragm is obtained:
eAeff V 2 sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Keq x ¼ ð11Þ
2ðd  xÞ2 1 K0
fres ¼ : ð19Þ
p q  ðwd  na2h Þ  t
2
where Keq is the equivalent spring constant of the dia-
phragm. The relationship between the voltage (V) and
displacement of the movable plate (x) can be expressed as:
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 ffi 4 Results and discussion
V ¼ ðd  xÞ 2Keq x eAeff : ð12Þ

The maximum voltage is taken by dV/dx = 0 and then The simulations are performed using IntelliSuite MEMS
the distance, where the pull-in is occurred, can be obtained simulation tool. The objectives of the simulation are to
as: verify the deformation of the diaphragm due to the applied
voltage between the diaphragm and the back plate and also
d
xpullin ¼ : ð13Þ to consider the microphone capacitance. The MEMS
3 capacitive microphone with a clamped perforated dia-
The system becomes unstable at the pull-in voltage, phragm and perforated diaphragm with frog arms have
where the movable plate is displaced about one-third of the physical parameters as given in Table 2. Square perforated
original gap. After solving Eq. (11) for xPi and choosing diaphragm is used for new structure. A DC bias voltage is
the stable root, the pull-in voltage for parallel plate struc- applied between the diaphragm and the back plate. The
ture can be obtained as: bias voltage is chosen 60% of pull-in voltage.
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi The essential characteristics of the structure, such as pull
8Keq d3 in voltage, mechanical sensitivity, capacitive sensitivity
Vpullin ¼ ð14Þ
27eAeff and resonance frequency are simulated using finite element
method (FEM). Figure 6 shows the simulated diaphragm
Keq is the total spring constant of diaphragm which is
deflection versus applied pressure (40 Pa) for clamped
obtained from Eq. (7) and Aeff is the effective area of the
diaphragm and the maximum central deflection of the
diaphragm which is calculated as:
clamped simple diaphragm is 0.00862 lm. Figure 7 shows
Aeff ¼ A  Aholes ¼ w2d  na2h ð15Þ the simulated diaphragm deflection versus applied pressure
(40 Pa) for proposed diaphragm and the maximum
Where n and ah are the number of diaphragm holes and deflection of proposed diaphragm is 0.321357 lm. It can
hole length, respectively. Substituting Eqs. (7) and (15) be seen that the diaphragm with frog arms has more
into (14) yields the pull-in voltage for proposed deflection than the clamped one under same load. Indeed,
microphone. by introducing the frog arms around the diaphragm, the
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
4 2 K 0 d3 deflection increased by 37 times.
Vpullin ¼ : ð16Þ Figure 8a shows the simulated clamped diaphragm
3 3 er e0 ðw2d  na2h Þ
deflection and Fig. 8b shows the simulated new diaphragm
deflection versus applied voltage. It can be seen that the
3.3 Resonance frequency pull-in voltage of microphone with new diaphragm is
2.25 V, whereas the pull in voltage of the microphone with
The resonance frequency of the structure depends on clamped perforated diaphragm is 44.6 V. Then the pull-in
geometry and material properties. The resonance frequency voltage of the supported microphone with frog arms has
of the microphone diaphragm can be defined as follows: been decreased about 95% compared with clamped one.
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffi Thus the new microphone is proper for low voltage
1 Keq applications. In our simulations, the upper limit of the
fres ¼ ð17Þ
2p m linear range is about 60% of pull in voltage, thus the bias
where Keq is the equivalent spring constant of the voltage is 26.76 V for clamped microphone and 1.35 V for
new one.

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Table 2 Design parameters of

Microphone properties Clamped perforated diaphragm Perforated diaphragm with frog arms
condenser MEMS microphones
Back plate material Silicon Silicon
Diaphragm thickness (lm) 3 3
Air gap (lm) 1 1
L1 width (lm) – 40
L2 width (lm) – 130
L3 width (lm) – 70
L4 width (lm) – 40
W1 width (lm) – 140
W2 width (lm) – 20
W3 width (lm) – 20
W4 width (lm) – 210
Open area (lm2) 14,400 14,400
Hole width (lm) 20 20
Number of holes 36 36

Fig. 6 The clamped simple diaphragm deflection versus applied

pressure (40 Pa)

Fig. 8 Diaphragm deflection vs. voltage for microphone with a the

clamped perforated diaphragm, b perforated diaphragm with frog
arms

Z-axis deformation is 0.33 lm at a bias voltage of 2.25 V.

Above the critical bias voltage the structure will be col-
Fig. 7 Proposed diaphragm deflection versus applied pressure (40 Pa) lapsed. It can be seen that the proposed diaphragm
improved the sensitivity of the diaphragm by uniform
Figure 9 shows the proposed microphone deformation in deflection. A microphone with small dimensions should be
the Z-axis at a distance of one-third of the air gap. The easy to fabricate and produce a large output signal despite

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The deflection–pressure curve is shown in Fig. 10. The

mechanical sensitivity of the clamped microphone is
0.309 nm/Pa whereas the mechanical sensitivity of the
proposed microphone is 9.893 nm/Pa. By introducing the
frog arms around the diaphragm, the mechanical sensitivity
increased 32 times. According to the results, proposed
microphone has an open circuit sensitivity of 6.677 mV/Pa,
whereas a clamped microphone with a same diaphragm
size has a sensitivity of 4.17 mV/Pa. By introducing the
frog arms around the diaphragm, the open circuit sensi-
tivity of new microphone is increased about 50%.
Figure 11 shows the relation between capacitance and
sound pressure under bias voltage. It can be seen that there
Fig. 9 Proposed microphone deformation at pull in voltage
is perfect linearity between capacitance and sound pressure
of its small size. A large output signal will be obtained, if under 30 Pa. The results yield a capacitance sensitivity
the open loop sensitivity of microphone, Sopen, is high. (S = dC/dP) of 0.15 fF/Pa for clamped diaphragm and
The open circuit sensitivity can be calculated as (Shu 27.45 fF/Pa for diaphragm with frog arms. By introducing
et al. 2008): the frog arms, the capacitance sensitivity increased 183
times.
Sopen ¼ Sm  Se ð20Þ The first resonance frequency of the microphone is
where Se is the electrical sensitivity and Sm is the 166.794 kHz for clamped diaphragm and 21.504 kHz for
mechanical sensitivity of the diaphragm. The mechanical proposed one. The results show that there is a tradeoff
sensitivity is defined as (Fuldner et al. 2005): between high sensitivity and high resonance frequency. A
comparison between microphone with proposed diaphragm
dw
Sm ¼ ð21Þ and clamped simple diaphragm is listed in Table 3. It can
dP be seen that, the mechanical sensitivity, electrical sensi-
where w is diaphragm deflection and p is applied pressure. tivity, capacitive sensitivity and pull in voltage of proposed
The electrical sensitivity of the capacitive microphone microphone are much better than the microphone with
depends on bias voltage in air gap and it is given by: clamped diaphragm.
Vb Table 4 present the comparison between calculated and
Se ¼ ð22Þ simulated pull-in voltage, resonance frequency for new
d
microphone. Note that the presented equation for resonance
where Vb is the bias voltage and d is the initial capacitive frequency is obtained at zero bias, then simulations are
gap. Indeed, the electrical sensitivity increases with supply performed at zero bias. It can be seen that the calculated
voltage. On the other hand, the bias voltage cannot be results are close to the simulated results. The difference
increased without limitation. At a pull in voltage, the dia- between them is due to the approximate model of spring
phragm collapses to the back plate. Moreover, increasing constant.
the bias voltage is not preferred in many low-voltage
applications of microphones.

Fig. 10 Deflection vs. pressure under bias voltage for microphones Fig. 11 Capacitance vs. pressure under bias voltage for microphones

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Table 3 A comparison between microphone with proposed diaphragm and clamped one
Structure of perforated Size Pull in Resonance frequency under Capacitive sensitivity under Mechanical sensitivity under
diaphragm (mm2) voltage bias (kHz) bias (fF/Pa) bias (nm/Pa)

Clamped 0.25 44.6 166.794 0.15 0.309

Supported by frog arms 0.25 2.25 21.504 27.45 9.893

Table 4 Comparison of
Pull-in voltage (V) Resonance frequency without bias (kHz)
calculated and simulated results
for proposed microphone Calculated results 2.77 26.7973
Simulated results 2.25 22.983

5 Conclusion diaphragm. In: Proceedings of the IEEE micro electro mechan-

ical systems (MEMS), Las Vegas, NV, pp 284–287
Chowdhury S, Jullien GA, Ahmadi MA, Miller WC (2000) MEMS
A novel MEMS capacitive microphone is designed using a acousto-magnetic components for use in a hearing instrument.
perforated aluminum diaphragm with frog arms, mono In: Presented at SPIE’s symposium on design, test, integration,
crystalline silicon back plate and a silicon oxide sacrificial and packaging of MEMS/MOEMS, Paris, France
Chowdhury S, Ahmadi M, Miller WC (2003) Nonlinear effects in
layer. The frog arms around the diaphragm decrease the MEMS capacitive microphone design. In: Proceedings of the
stiffness of the diaphragm, thus small size, low voltage and international conference on MEMS, nano and smart systems
high sensitivity can be achieved. The results show the (ICMENS’03), IEEE, pp 1–6
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Determining the acoustic resistance of small sound holes for
microphone compared with the clamped one. The mathe- MEMS microphones. Procedia Eng 25:1509–1512
matical modeling of the proposed microphone is presented Feyzi A, Rezazadeh G (2010) Effect of thermal stresses on stability
to calculate the spring constant, pull in voltage, mechanical and frequency response of a capacitive microphone. Microelec-
sensitivity and resonance frequency of the structure. tron J 41:865–873
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According to the simulation results, the proposed micro- element simulation of advanced membranes for silicon micro-
phone with same size diaphragm, yield a capacitance phones. Sens J IEEE 5:857–863
sensitivity of 0.15 fF/Pa for clamped and 27.45 fF/Pa for Ganji BA, Majlis BY (2009) Design and fabrication of a new MEMS
proposed microphone. The simulation results show a capacitive microphone using a perforated aluminum diaphragm.
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with 0.5 mm square aluminum diaphragm supported by sputtered aluminum diaphragm and photoresist sacrificial layer.
frog arms. Whereas a clamped microphone with same Microsyst Technol 16:1803–1809
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