Microelectromechanical system microphone

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9668064-B2
Application number	US-201514630620-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2015
Priority date	Jan 15, 2015
Publication date	May 30, 2017
Grant date	May 30, 2017

Abstract

A microelectromechanical system microphone includes a semiconductor-on-insulator structure, a plurality of resistors, a plurality of first openings, and a vent hole. The semiconductor-on-insulator structure includes a substrate, an insulating layer and a semiconductor layer. The resistors are formed in the semiconductor layer, the first openings are formed in the semiconductor layer, and the vent hole is formed in the insulating layer and the substrate. The resistors are connected to each other to form a resistor pattern, and the first openings are all formed within the resistor pattern.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A microelectromechanical system (MEMS) microphone, comprising:
a semiconductor-on-insulator structure comprising a substrate, an insulating layer, and a semiconductor layer;
a plurality of resistors formed in the semiconductor layer, the resistors being connected to each other to form a resistor pattern, and the resistors respectively comprising a metal wire;
a plurality of first openings formed in the semiconductor layer, the first openings all being formed within the resistor pattern;
a vent hole formed in the insulating layer and the substrate; and
a diaphragm suspended over the vent hole, the diaphragm comprising at least a portion of each resistor formed therein.

2. The MEMS microphone according to claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor layer comprises a polysilicon layer, an epitaxial silicon layer, or an amorphous silicon layer.

3. The MEMS microphone according to claim 1 , wherein the first openings are arranged to cross a center of the resistor pattern.

4. The MEMS microphone according to claim 3 , further comprising a plurality of diaphragms are defined by the first openings, and the diaphragms and at least a portion of each resistor are formed above the vent hole.

5. The MEMS microphone according to claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of second openings formed in the semiconductor layer.

6. The MEMS microphone according to claim 5 , wherein the first openings and the second openings are respectively formed at two opposite sides of the resistors.

7. The MEMS microphone according to claim 6 , further comprising a plurality of overlapping regions defined by the first openings and the second openings, and the resistors being respectively formed within the overlapping regions.

8. The MEMS microphone according to claim 5 , wherein the first openings, the resistors, and the second openings are all formed above the vent hole.

9. A microelectromechanical system (MEMS) microphone layout structure, comprising:
a resistor pattern formed in a first layer, the resistor pattern comprising metal wires;
a vent hole formed in a second layer;
a first opening pattern formed in the first layer, the first opening pattern and at least a portion of the resistor pattern being overlapped with the vent hole; and
a diaphragm formed in the first layer, and the diaphragm being defined at least by the first opening pattern.

10. The MEMS microphone layout structure according to claim 9 , wherein the first opening pattern defines at least a diaphragm in the first layer, and the diaphragm and a portion of the resistor pattern form a convex polygon.

11. The MEMS microphone layout structure according to claim 10 , wherein the portion of the resistor pattern and the first opening pattern respectively are sides of the convex polygon.

12. The MEMS microphone layout structure according to claim 9 , wherein the first opening pattern crosses a center of the resistor pattern.

13. The MEMS microphone layout structure according to claim 9 , further comprising a second opening pattern formed in the first layer, and the first opening pattern and the second opening pattern form a concentric pattern.

14. The MEMS microphone layout structure according to claim 13 , wherein the resistor pattern is formed in between the first opening pattern and the second opening pattern.

15. The MEMS microphone layout structure according to claim 14 , wherein the second opening pattern, the resistor pattern, and the first opening pattern are all overlapped with the vent hole.

Assignees

• United Microelectronics Corp

Inventors

• Hsu Chang-Sheng
• Lin yuan-sheng
• Fang Wei-Hua
• Wang Kuan-Yu
• Chen Yan-Da

Classifications

• B81B2201/0257

  Microphones or microspeakers · CPC title

• H04R2201/003

  Mems transducers or their use · CPC title

• B81B2203/0127

  Diaphragms, i.e. structures separating two media that can control the passage from one medium to another; Membranes, i.e. diaphragms with filtering function · CPC title

• B81C1/00182 Primary

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

• H04R23/00 Primary

  Transducers other than those covered by groups H04R9/00 - H04R21/00 {(diaphragms for transducers of the distributed-mode type H04R7/045)} · CPC title