Dimensional consistency of miniature loudspeakers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11729569-B2
Application number	US-201916598618-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 10, 2019
Priority date	Oct 10, 2019
Publication date	Aug 15, 2023
Grant date	Aug 15, 2023

Abstract

A semiconductor wafer has formed within it a plurality of piston tops of equal area. Each of the piston tops includes a thin flat region from which a majority of the thickness of the original semiconductor wafer may have been removed. A first one of the piston tops has a lower thickness than a second one of the piston tops. The second piston top has at least one hole in it, the volume of the hole corresponding to the difference in thickness between the first and second piston tops, such that the masses of the first and second piston tops differ by less than the variation in thickness between them.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a semiconductor wafer having formed within it a plurality of piston tops of equal area each of the plurality of piston tops having a mass,
each of the piston tops comprising a thin flat region from which a majority of a thickness of the original semiconductor wafer has been removed,
wherein
a first one of the piston tops has a lower thickness than a second one of the piston tops, and
the second piston top has at least one hole in it, a volume of the hole corresponding to a difference in thickness between the first and second piston tops, such that the masses of the first and second piston tops differ by less than a variation in thickness between them, and wherein the hole in the second piston top does not extend through the entire thickness of the second piston top.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first and second piston tops differ in thickness by more than fifty percent (50%), and differ in mass by less than twenty percent (20%).

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first and second piston tops differ in thickness by more than one hundred percent (100%).

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first and second piston tops differ in mass by less than ten percent (10%).

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a third one of the piston tops has a greater thickness than the second piston top.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the third piston top has a greater number of holes in it than the second piston top, such that the masses of the first, second, and third piston tops differ by less than the variation in thickness between them.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the third piston top has at least one hole in it larger than the at least one hole in the second piston top, such that the masses of the first, second, and third piston tops differ by less than the variation in thickness between them.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second piston top is located a greater distance from the center of the wafer than the first piston top.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the thickness of the piston tops varies with each piston tops' distance from the center of the wafer,
a plurality of the piston tops each have a plurality of holes in them, and
the total volume of the holes in each piston top varies with the piston tops' distances from the center of the wafer,
such that the mass of each given piston top differs from the average mass of all the piston tops by less than the variation in thickness between that piston top and the average thickness of all the piston tops.

Assignees

• Bose Corp

Inventors

• Hayner Mark A

Classifications

• H04R31/003 Primary

  for diaphragms or their outer suspension · CPC title

• B81C1/00182

  Arrangements of deformable or non-deformable structures, e.g. membrane and cavity for use in a transducer · CPC title

• H04R7/06 Primary

  comprising a plurality of sections or layers · CPC title

• H04R7/16

  Mounting or tensioning of diaphragms or cones · CPC title

• H04R9/06

  Loudspeakers · CPC title