MEMS microphone and method of manufacturing the same
AssigneeDb Hiktek Co., Ltd.
InventorMin Hyun Jung
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A MEMS microphone includes a substrate, a diaphragm disposed over the substrate to cover the cavity, the diaphragm defining an air gap together with the back plate, and the diaphragm being spaced apart from the substrate, a back plate disposed over the diaphragm and in the vibration area, an upper insulation layer to cover the back plate, a plurality of chamber portions provided in the supporting area, a lower insulation layer provided under the upper insulation layer and on the substrate, and an intermediate insulation layer provided between the lower insulation layer and the upper insulation layer and disposed further from the vibration area than the chamber portions.
Claims16
A Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) microphone comprising:
- a substrate including:
- a vibration area defining a cavity,
- a supporting area surrounding the vibration area, and
- a peripheral area surrounding the supporting area;
- a diaphragm disposed over the substrate to cover the cavity, the diaphragm defining an air gap together with the back plate, and the diaphragm being spaced apart from the substrate to be configured to sense an acoustic pressure to generate a corresponding displacement;
- a back plate disposed over the diaphragm and in the vibration area, and the back plate being spaced apart from the diaphragm to form an air gap, and defining a plurality of first acoustic holes;
- an upper insulation layer arranged to cover the back plate, the upper insulation layer being configured to hold the back plate such that the back plate is spaced apart from the diaphragm;
- a plurality of chamber portions provided in the supporting area, spaced apart from each other along a circumference of the vibration area, each of the plurality of chamber portions having a lower surface in contact with an upper surface of the substrate to support the upper insulation layer;
- a lower insulation layer provided under the upper insulation layer and on the substrate and disposed further from the vibration area than the chamber portions;
- and
- an intermediate insulation layer provided between the lower insulation layer and the upper insulation layer and disposed outside of the chamber portions,
- wherein a plurality of slits is provided between the chamber portions to expose the upper surface of the substrate and communicating with the air gap, and a plurality of spaces is provided outside of the chamber portion, and in fluid communication with the slits, respectively.
A method of manufacturing a Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) microphone comprising:
- forming an insulation layer on a substrate being divided into a vibration area, a supporting area surrounding the vibration area and a peripheral area surrounding the supporting area;
- forming a diaphragm in the vibration area and an anchor supporting the diaphragm in the supporting area, respectively, on the lower insulation layer;
- forming an intermediate insulation layer on the lower insulation layer on which the diaphragm is formed;
- forming a back plate on the intermediate insulation layer in the vibration area, the back plate facing the diaphragm;
- patterning the intermediate insulation layer and the lower insulation layer in the supporting area to form a plurality of chamber channels for forming chambers, being spaced apart from each other along a periphery of the vibration area;
- depositing an insulating layer on the intermediate insulation layer in which the back plate and the chamber channels;
- patterning the insulating layer to form the upper insulation layer that mechanically supports the back plate and spaces the back plate apart from the diaphragm, and chambers portions spaced apart from each other for supporting the back plate;
- patterning the back plate and the upper insulation layer to form first acoustic holes of penetrating the back plate and the upper insulation layer;
- patterning the substrate to forma cavity to partially expose the lower insulation layer in the vibration area;
- and
- performing an etch process using the cavity and the first acoustic holes with completely removing portions of the lower insulation layer and the intermediate insulation layer in both the vibration area and the supporting area, and partially removing the portions in the peripheral area to form an air gap between the diaphragm and the back plate, a plurality of slits communicating with the air gap, disposed between the chamber portions, and spaces outside of the chamber portions, communicating with the slits, respectively.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.