Micromachined Optical Diffraction-Based Sound and Vibration Sensors

Abstract

This presentation will summarize recent developments with micromachined microphones employing diffraction-based optical displacement detection. The approach has the advantage of providing high-displacement detection resolution of the microphone diaphragm, independent of device size and capacitance, creating an unconstrained mechanical and acoustical design space for .the mechanical structure itself. Micromachined microphone structures with 1.5-mm-diameter polysilicon diaphragms
and monolithically-integrated diffraction grating electrodes are presented in this work. Their architectures deviate substantially from traditional condenser MEMS microphones. These structures have been designed for a 20 kHz broadband frequency response and low levels of Brownian (i.e., thermal mechanical) noise. The rigorous experimental characterization of these structures to be presented indicates a diaphragm displacement detection resolution of 20 fm/-YHz and a thermal-mechanical
induced diaphragm displacement noise density of 60 fm/-YHz, corresponding to an A-weighted sound pressure level detection limit of 24 dB(A) for these structures. Modeling and characterization results lead to the projection of 15 dB(A) noise levels from subsequent prototyping efforts, thus approaching the threshold of hearing. For reference, such performance figures are characteristic of only the highest quality traditionally manufactured microphones available today, and
which are roughly 100 times larger in size. The potential commercial impact of the technology will be highlighted with reference to design-win opportunities in the areas of hearing aids, acoustic instrumentation, and some medical device applications. Time permitting, possible future directions and applications in medical ultrasound imaging and scanning probe microscopy will be discussed.

Speaker Biography

Neal A. Hall received the B.S. degree from the University of Texas, Austin in 1999, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2002 and 2004, respectively, all in mechanical engineering. He worked as an Intelligence Community (Ie) Postdoctoral Fellow at Sandia National Laboratories from 20042006
and is currently pursuing the commercial development of advanced micromachined and nanotechnology enabled transducers as a principal of Micro-Audio, LLC based in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Hall also had the privilege of co-mentoring 2 graduate students at Georgia Tech in 2007 as an affiliate while leading an optoelectronic integration and packaging effort related to MEMS-based optical interference microphones. His research areas include silicon micromachining, optics and photonics, acoustics and dynamics, and advanced transducer
development. He has coauthored over 20 journal publications and conference proceedings in these areas as well
as several patents and patent applications.