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Ultraminiature AlN diaphragm acoustic transducer
Alison E Hake1, Chuming Zhao1, Lichuan Ping2
1Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Applied Physics Letters
|October 16, 2020
Summary
This study reports on novel piezoelectric acoustic transducers designed using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for low minimum detectable pressure (MDP). The developed MEMS piezoelectric diaphragm transducers offer high sensitivity for acoustic sensing applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrical Engineering
- Acoustics
Background:
- Piezoelectric acoustic transducers are crucial for various sensing applications.
- Achieving low minimum detectable pressure (MDP) in micro-scale devices presents significant design challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To design and fabricate microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) piezoelectric diaphragm transducers with a low MDP.
- To establish design rules for optimizing MEMS piezoelectric transducers for enhanced sensitivity.
Main Methods:
- Utilized analytical and finite element analysis (FEA) for transducer design.
- Fabricated circular aluminum nitride and silicon nitride unimorph diaphragm transducers using MEMS techniques.
- Characterized transducer performance in terms of structural resonances and low-frequency sensitivity.
Main Results:
- Reported structural resonances at 552 kHz in air and 133 kHz in water for a 175 μm radius transducer.
- Achieved a low-frequency sensitivity of 1.87 μV/Pa in both air and water.
- Demonstrated a minimum detectable pressure (MDP) of 43.7 mPa at 100 Hz and 10.9 mPa at 1 kHz.
Conclusions:
- The developed MEMS piezoelectric diaphragm transducers exhibit promising performance for acoustic sensing.
- Design considerations including size, material properties, and residual stress are critical for reducing MDP.
- This work provides valuable design guidelines for future MEMS acoustic sensor development.
