IMEN Postgraduate Colloquium 2018

Analysis of Center Hole on Backplate MEMS

Capacitive Microphone
Rahmat Zaki Auliya HM, Burhanuddin Yeop Majlis
Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronic (IMEN),
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43000 Kajang, Selangor, MALAYSIA.
Email : rahmatzaki@siswa.ukm.edu.my

Abstract—Center hole on backplate of MEMS capacitive II. DESIGN OF CENTER HOLE

microphone has been designed and simulated by using finite
element method. Bigger center hole will make higher membrane
displacement and sesnsitivity, but reduce capacitance value due Analysis of center hole effect is made using finite element
to smaller surface area of electrode. method. Cross section of MEMS capacitive microphone with
center hole is shown in figure 1. In order to simplify the
Keywords—MEMS capacitive microphone, center hole, computation, design is made in 2D-axissymmetric dimension.
backplate, sensitivity, membrane displacement. It means membrane and center hole is circle shape. In this
study, membrane radius is 500 µm and membrane thickness is
I. INTRODUCTION 10 µm. Material used as the membrane is silicon with young
Perforated backplate of MEMS capacitive microphone is modulus 170 GPa.
useful due to easy sacrificial etching fabrication technique and
lessen air damping inside the air gap[1]. Furthermore, holes in
backplate can enhance membrane displacement of microphone
because trapped air is able to flow out through holes[2].
However, wide area of holes reduces electrode area on the
surface of backplate and lessens capacitance value obtained
based on equation 1. Hence, total area of holes must be
considered to get optimum result. In equation 1, capacitance
(C) is proportional to total area of electrode (A) and inversely
proportional with distance between two electrodes (d), while
2 4 Fig 1. Cross section of MEMS capacitive micropohone with
𝜀0 is 8.854 x 10-12 𝐴 𝑠 ⁄𝑘𝑔. 𝑚3 and 𝜀𝑟 is dielectric constant
center hole on backplate
between two plates.
𝜀0 𝜀𝑟 𝐴 (1) To understand effect of center hole, radius of hole (G) is
𝐶= varied from 50 µm to 200 µm. Electrodes are placed on
𝑑
membrane and backplate surface. So, it means electrode
surface will be lessen while hole radius is bigger. DC voltage
Numerous approaches have been conducted on MEMS applied into terminal is about 8 V.
capacitive microphone design in order to get better response of III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
microphone. Membrane shape and material take a big role on
membrane ability to deflect and also improve sensitivity of Performance of microphone is analyzed along frequency
microphone[3,4]. However, hole shape and size could be audio, 20 Hz until 20 kHz. So, response of membrane can be
designed as well to improve membrane deflection along seen in this human audible range.
audible frequency range. This paper is purposed to study A. Total displacement analysis
effect of hole size on membrane deflection and microphone
Total displacement of center point of membrane is shown
sensitivity. In equation 2, sensitivity is shown by comparison
in figure 3. Maximum membrane displacement is yielded
of output voltage (Vout) with input pressure (Pin).
when hole radius is 200 µm. This is happened because air
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 (2) damping inside the air gap is much decreased when pressure is
𝑆𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦(𝑑𝐵) = 20𝑙𝑜𝑔10 ( ) applied to surface of membrane.
𝑃𝑖𝑛
IMEN Postgraduate Colloquium 2018

because electrode surface is smaller when hole size is enlarged

as presented in equation 1.

1.00

0.98

0.96

0.94

Capacitance (pF)
0.92

0.90

0.88

Fig 2. Total displacement of membrane microphone with 0.86

different hole radius (G) 0.84

0.82
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220

B. Sensitivity analysis Hole radius (um)

Higher sensitivity is achieved by microphone with hole

Fig 4. Capacitance against hole radius
radius 200 µm. From 1 Hz until 1 kHz, sensitivity is -96.91 in
all hole radius size. However, sensitivity is getting higher in
200 µm hole radius, and getting lower in 100 µm and 50 µm IV. CONCLUSIONS
hole radius. This result is related with decreased air damping
in big hole size.
This study is analyzing effect of center hole on backplate of
MEMS capacitive microphone on sensitivity and membrane
displacement. Center hole size has a good effect on membrane
displacement and sensitivity, but on the other hand, it reduce
capacitance value between two electrodes.

REFERENCES

[1] Y. B. Ning, A. W. Mitchell, R.N. Tait, “Fabrication of a silicon

micromachined capacitive microphone using a dry eth process”, Sensors
and Actuators A, vol. 53, pp. 237-242, 1996.
[2] A. Dehe, “ Silicon microphone development and application”, Sensors
and Actuators A, vol. 133, pp. 283-287, 2007.
[3] H. S. Kwon, K. C. Lee, “Double-chip condenser microphone for rigid
Fig 3. Sensitivity of microphone with different hole radius backplate using DRIE and wafer bonding technology”, Sensors and
(G) Actuators A, vol. 138, pp. 81-86, 2007.
[4] P. C. Hsu, C. H. Mastrangelo, K. D. Wise, “A high sensitivity
polysilicon diaphragm condenser microphone”, MEMS conference,
1998.

C. Capacitance analysis
Differ from previous result, capacitance value is decreased
when hole radius is increased as shown in figure 5. This is