Electrostatic acoustic transducer having extremely thin diaphragm substrate

Abstract

An acoustical transducer unit mountable in a speaker enclosure with a speaker opening adapted to face a user's ear, and a method for manufacturing the transducer. The transducer has a pair of opposing plates spaced apart a predetermined distance and a diaphragm physically connected and positioned between the plates, though electrically separated from the plates. The plates are adapted to be connected to an audio signal source, while the diaphragm receives a bias voltage. The transducer is mounted in the enclosure facing outward toward the speaker opening. The diaphragm is formed of a flexible substrate material such as MYLAR.TM.. A substantially infrared transparent material is deposited onto each side of the substrate in a thin layer to arrive at a transducer which is at a much higher level of performance than those of the prior art. The deposited material is infrared transparent so as to permit the deposition process to proceed without substantial damage or distortion to the diaphragm. Because the deposited metal is transparent to infrared energy, the diaphragm may be thinner than 5.0.times.10 meters, resulting in a transducer having substantially improved frequency response due to the thinness and low mass of the diaphragm.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.