Article

A MEMS-based shifted membrane

electrodynamic microsensor
for microphone applications

Journal of Vibration and Control

115
! The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/1077546316637298
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M Hadj Said1, F Tounsi1, SG Surya2, B Mezghani1,

M Masmoudi1 and VR Rao2

Abstract
In this paper we present a multidisciplinary modeling of a MEMS-based electrodynamic microsensor, when an additional
vertical offset is defined, aiming acoustic applications field. The principle is based on the use of two planar inductors, fixed
outer and suspended inner. When a DC current is made to flow through the outer inductor, a magnetic field is produced
within the suspended inner one, located on a membrane top. In our modeling, the magnetic field curve, as a function of
the vertical fluctuation magnitude, shows that the radial component was maximum and stationary for a specific vertical
location. We demonstrate in this paper that the dynamic response of the electrodynamic microsensor was very appropriate for acting as a microphone when the membrane is shifted to a certain vertical position, which represents an
improvement of the microsensors basic design. Thus, a proposed technological method to ensure this offset of the inner
inductor, by using wafer bonding method, is discussed. On this basis, the mechanical and electrical modeling for the new
microphone design was performed using both analytic and Finite Element Method. Firstly, the resonance frequency was
set around 1.6 kHz, in the middle of the acoustic band (20 Hz 20 kHz), then the optimal location of the inner average
spiral was evaluated to be around 200mm away from the diaphragm edge. The overall dynamic sensitivity was evaluated
by coupling the lumped elements from different domains interfering during the microphone function. Dynamic sensitivity
was found to be 6.3 V/Pa when using 100 mm for both gap and vertical offset. In conclusion, a bandwidth of 37.6 Hz to
26.5 kHz has been found which is wider compared to some conventional microphones.

Keywords
MEMS-based sensors, electrodynamic transducer, microphone modeling, FEM simulation, diaphragm design and
optimization, magnetic and electric modeling

1. Introduction
The major advancements in the eld of microsensors
have undoubtedly taken place within the past 20 years
with emerging microelectronic features, and there are
cogent reasons to consider these achievements as a
giant leap towards maturity. This trend is consistent
with reduction in unit cost and with the diversity of
functions made available to public while maintaining
low tolerance and high sensitivities (Madou, 1997). A
diversion of microelectronics has led to Microsystems
(or MEMS, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) which
combines semiconductor microelectronic processes and
micromachining techniques, allowing the realization of
complete systems on a chip (Ma, 2015). The main
advantages of the introduction of MEMS technology

are (i) the miniaturization of devices, (ii) a high degree

of dimensional control and (iii) the reduction of manufacturing cost. The microphone can be considered as
one of the mature and successful MEMS applications
1
Electronics, Microtechnology and Communication (EMC) research
Group, National Engineering School of Sfax, Sfax University, Route
Soukra, Tunisia
2
Centre for Research in Nanotechnology and Science, Indian Institute of
Technology, IIT-Bombay, Mumbai, India

Received: 18 June 2015; accepted: 8 February 2016

Corresponding author:
F Tounsi, Electronics, Microtechnology and Communication (EMC)
research Group, National Engineering School of Sfax, Sfax University,
Route Soukra, BP 1173, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia.
Email: fares.tounsi@isimsf.rnu.tn

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Journal of Vibration and Control

(Hohm and Gerhard-Multhaupt, 1984; Sprenkels et al.,

1989). It is a transducer that converts the pressure input
into electrical signal and is mostly used in communication, hearing-aid devices and vibration control systems
(Ma and Man, 2002). Most microphone sensors are
developed for audio applications, with frequency
ranges from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and pressure level range
from 20 Pa to 60 Pa. Sound pressure can be detected
using many techniques such as piezoelectric (Horowitz
et al., 2007), piezoresistive (Schellin and Hess, 1992),
optic (Bilaniuk, 1997) and capacitive (Mohamad
et al., 2010). The latter is considered to be the most
common type among silicon microphone schemes
because of its high sensitivity (mV/Pa), large bandwidth and low noise level (Ganji and Majlis, 2009;
Huang et al., 2011). On the other hand, piezoresistive
microphones are robust nevertheless generate a low
sensitivity (Sheplak et al., 1998) and the piezoresistive
material can suer from thermal degradation due to
Joule heating eect. Finally, the piezoelectric microphone is very common in aeroacoustic applications
but also with low sensitivity and low bandwidth
(Horowitz et al., 2007). The drawbacks of optic
microphones reside in the requirement of stable optical
reference and encapsulation of all system components,
such as light sources, optical sensor and photodetector,
which should be properly aligned and positioned. To
overcome defects encountered in each transductions
type, a totally recent integrated transduction technique
will be proposed and studied in order to detect the
acoustic waves. This technique is based on the electrodynamic theory and is known to be commonly used in
traditional microphones but never in micromachined
counterparts. Nevertheless, the traditional dynamic
microphone still suers from low sensitivity due to
the slow vibration velocity as a result of the heavy diaphragm (16mm thick and 25 mm in diameter) and the
non-integrated spiral moving coil vertically attached to
the diaphragm, which makes the whole device quite
bulky (Horng et al., 2010). To address this problem,
we will introduce the MEMS electrodynamic (or
inductive) microphone in order to increase the performances by increasing the vibrations velocity, since the
electrodynamic microphone should be a velocity
conversion and not displacement like the condenser
transducer (Merhaut, 1981). Moreover, the design
aims to reduce the unit cost and decrease physical
dimensions. An attempt to manufacture a miniaturized
electrodynamic microphone has been reported, but it
combines a diaphragm with coils manufactured in
MEMS technology and a macro-magnet embedded in
the external package (Horng et al., 2010). Through this
paper, we will present the basic design and the operation principle of this new transducer. We will also
demonstrate how the bandwidth can be enlarged

while keeping a high dynamic performance on the

acoustic band. This was done by modifying the microphones basic design by providing a vertical oset to the
vibrating diaphragm.
This paper is organized as follows: the rst section
presents a mechanical modeling of the suspension
design using both analytical and FEM analysis accomplished using Comsol . The section objective is to
determine the mechanical properties such as the resonance frequency and the membrane displacement magnitude. This modeling will include the optimization of
the membrane dimensions as well, to achieve the targeted microphone dynamics performance in accordance
with the manufacturing technology available. In the
second section, we will present the magnetic modeling
of the outer square inductor and we were interested in
seeking the B-eld distribution produced by this latter.
This result will be validated by FEM analysis. Then, the
technological method for manufacturing the microphone will be proposed. In addition, we will investigate
theoretically the induced voltage. Finally, we will evaluate the global sensitivity of the microphone by determining the coupling schemes between the domains
involved (acousticmechanicalelectric). The design
parameters were determined using a mixed modeling
method from analytic and numeric FEM study.

2. Basic principle of the electrodynamic

design
When a conductor (or wire), carrying current, is
moving inward in a magnetic eld, a voltage is induced
at its ends which is proportional to the strength of this
magnetic eld, the movement velocity and the conductor length that is immersed in the magnetic eld
(see Figure 1a). The equation governing the generated
induced voltage, known as Faradays law of induction,
is given by:
I
e

! !
!
v ^ B dl

loop

where e [V] is the instantaneous output voltage, B [T] is

the magnetic ux density, l [m] is the length of the conductor and v [m/s] is the instantaneous movement velocity of the conductor. When B is constant, the output
voltage is directly proportional to the conductor
velocity.
Based on this electromagnetic induction principle,
referred to by Lorentz force law, a MEMS-based
microphone is proposed and analyzed. The primary
implementation of this technique is ensured by the
use of two coaxial planar square inductors, which
occupy separate regions (see Figure 1b). The basic

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Hadj Said et al.

Figure 1. (a) Magnetic induction principle illustration and (b) 3D representation of the electrodynamic microphone structure.

idea consists of placing a xed outer inductor B1 on top

of the substrate, and an inner inductor B2 implemented
on a suspended membrane over a micromachined
cavity. By biasing the primary inductance B1, a permanent magnetic eld will be produced within B2.
Vibration of the suspended membrane, including B2,
in the magnetic eld will generate at its ends an induced
output voltage, which is proportional to the uctuation
amplitude caused by the incident acoustic wave. In a
previous work, the inductor section and the spacing in
between were optimized to increase the magnetic eld
(Hadj et al., 2014). In the next section, the resonant
frequency and the displacement of the membrane are
deduced based on dimensions imposed by the targeted
technology in IIT Bombay.

3. Mechanical modeling of the structure

3.1. Resonant frequency evaluation
To achieve a suspended diaphragm on top of a cavity,
generally two methods are possible based on the etching attack: a surface micromachining, wherein a sandwiched sacricial layer is etched from the front side, or
a bulk micromachining wherein the substrate is etched
from the back side. In the present design, since the
membrane is attached to the substrate at its peripherals,
the back side bulk micromachining technique is the
most suitable. In fact, this technique permits to avoid
not only the use of attachment arms, which implies the
existence of apertures around, but also holes which
should serve for etching the sacricial layers. In practical terms, the existence of openings around the diaphragm can lead to an acoustic short path in the
dynamic range, especially in the vicinity of low frequencies, between the surrounding air above and the cavity
underneath the diaphragm (Hurst et al., 2014). This
acoustic short path occurs given that any modication

in the pressure of the ambient air will propagate rapidly

into the cavity under the sensing diaphragm through
openings around arms and/or etching holes (Jusoe,
2013). As a consequence, pressure equilibrium is
obtained and the membrane will be blocked; these
eects reduce signicantly the dynamic performance
of the microphone (Jusoe, 2013).
For an electrodynamic microphone targeting audio
applications, the natural frequency of the membrane
must be dened at the geometric mean distance
(GMD) of the acoustic wave band [20 Hz20 kHz], contrary to the electrostatic microphone whose resonant
frequency is dened above the useful band (Merhaut,
1981). So, in our modeling we rstly had to adjust
the membrane length based on the feasible thickness
to achieve a resonance frequency around 1.6 kHz.
Thereby, by neglecting the axial stress caused during
the fabrication process, the rst mode resonant frequency of an attached square membrane can be
expressed as (Dominiguez, 2005):
s
35:99 D
f1
2L2 th

where L is the membrane side length,  is the equivalent

stacked material density, th is the diaphragms elastic
thickness and D is the exural rigidity given by:
D

Et3h
121  2

where E is the Youngs modulus of the equivalent

stacked materials, and  its equivalent Poissons ratio.
According to the available manufacturing process in
IIT Bombay, the membrane will be composed of a
superposition of two layers: silicon dioxide and nitride.
Thus, to obtain a resonant frequency in the Geometric

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Journal of Vibration and Control

Frequency [Hz]

10

10

10

Table 1. Analytic and FEM evaluation of the mechanical

properties of the square diaphragm.

t=0.3m
t=0.5m
t=1m
t=2m

Diaphragm properties

Analytic

FEM

Resonance frequency (fr)

Effective mecanical
mass (Mdia)
Mecanical spring
constant (Kdia)

1.619 (kHz)
1.025 109 (g)

1.632 (kHz)
1.048 109 (g)

0.106 (N/m)

0.110 (N/m)

X: 0.001509
Y: 1600

0.5

1
1.5
Membrane Length [mm]

2.5

Figure 2. Evaluation of the analytical resonance frequency of

the membrane as a function of its side length, L.

Mean Distance of the acoustic band, we draw the membrane resonance frequency curve as a function of the
membrane side length, L, for dierent possible membrane thicknesses (see Figure 2). In fact, when the
thickness increases, we need to increase the membranes
length in order to reach the targeted resonant frequency. For a membrane of 1500 mm side length and
0.3 mm thickness (0.2 mm oxide and 0.1 mm of silicon
nitride), we obtain a resonance frequency around
1.6 kHz. Its mechanical eective mass and stiness
are, respectively, given by (Sampaio, 2013):
2
Mme
dia 0:607904th L

Kme
dia 787:402

D
L2

For validation purpose, a modal analysis was

performed using the Solid mechanics module in
Comsol multiphysics software. The previously mentioned suspended membrane was simulated for both
analytical thickness and length, and results are summarized in Table 1. The slight dierence in values is
primarily due to the used mesh size in FEM
simulations.

3.2. Harmonic membrane displacement

evaluation
The membrane displacement is related to the frequency
of the incident sound wave. In the present study, we
consider the simplest case where the acoustic wave is
purely sinusoidal with an amplitude equals to 0.1 Pa,
corresponding to people conversation magnitude
(70 dB). So, the harmonic displacement of the
diaphragms center was simulated and evaluated

using Shell module in Comsol Multiphysics

when applying a dynamic pressure of 0.1 Pa. The maximum simulated displacement around the resonance
frequency was found to be around 13mm, as shown in
Figure 3a. We note that the displacement is maximal
around the already set resonant frequency. The curve
showing the membrane behavior for each point on its
midline is drawn on Figure 3b using the same frequency
of 1.6 kHz.

4. Magnetic and electric modeling

of the electrodynamic microphone
4.1. Magnetic field induced by the outer
inductor using DC bias
Planar integrated inductors have a square shape made
by a juxtaposition of several conductors together.
Hence, according to the principle of superposition,
the resulting magnetic eld B created at any point
M(x, y, z) inside the inductor, is the sum of magnetic
eld vectors generated by the contribution of each conductor segment. In a previous work, we did demonstrate theoretically that the magnetic eld produced
by a planar square inductor, constituted by n spirals,
is equal to a superposition of n single spirals having the
inductors average diameter (see Figure 4a) (Francis
and Krzysztof, 2013). When denoting " as the distance
separating both inductances, so "a designates the average distance separating their average diameters, and a
as the average outer inductor diameter (see Figure 4b).
The inductor spirals width and pitch are referenced
respectively by w and s. Due to technological limitations, the inner diameter of the external inductor surrounding the membrane is chosen to be slightly higher
than the membrane side, i.e. 1504 mm.
The 3 magnetic eld component expressions (Bx, By
and Bz) produced by the average diameter of the external inductor are calculated in a Cartesian coordinate
system by an analytical approach determined in a previous work (Francis and Krzysztof, 2013). Since the
inductances uctuation is out of plane, the radial magnetic eld components Bx and By are the key parameters in the microsensors sensitivity evaluation, and

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Hadj Said et al.

(b) 0

14
12

-2

10

-4
Deflection [m]

Spectrum displacement[m]

(a)

8
6
4

-8
-10

2
0

-6

-12
3

10

10

-14
-750

-500

Frequency [Hz]

-250
0
250
Membrane side, L [m]

500

750

Figure 3. Representation of the diaphragms (a) center displacement over frequency and (b) midline deflection for the resonance
frequency of 1.6 kHz.

Figure 4. (a) In plane considered equivalent scheme of the two inductors, (b) 3D geometrical arrangement of the two simplified
spirals and (c) Contour of the magnetic field around a vertical cutting xz plane of one turn inductor polarized with I1 100 mA.

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Journal of Vibration and Control

then they are responsible for the generation of the

induced voltage. The radial component, Bx, generated
by the outer inductor is given by:
"
a

a
0 I1 z
1
2y
2y
Bx M n1

c2
4
a2  x2 z2 c1
#
6
a

a
1
2y
2y
 a

c4
2 x2 z2 c3
Where constants c1 to c4 are given by:
q
a2  x2 a2  y2 z2 ,
q
c2 a2  x2 a2 y2 z2 ,
q
c3 a2 x2 a2  y2 z2 ,
q
c4 a2 x2 a2 y2 z2
c1

where I1 is the current owing through the external

inductor (see Figure 4a) and m0 is the vacuum permeability. The optimal number of turns in both inner and
outer inductances was found to be equal to 50. Indeed,
increasing further this latter parameter will have no
signicant inuence on the produced magnetic elds,
as its average spiral will be far removed from the diaphragm. Due to the inductors symmetric square shape,
the By radial component can be found using the same
equation by substituting x by y (and vice versa). The
two radial components are equal and they increase

(a) 6

Maximum magnetic field Bx,max [mT]

M agnetic field component Bx [mT]

Analytic a=184m
FEM a=104m

FEM a=144m
FEM a=184m

-2

-4

-6
-250

-200

-150

-100

Bx-max

(b)

Analytic a=104m
Analytic a=144m

when approaching the outer inductor. In addition,

from the analytic equation 6 we can note that they
are null on the substrate plane (z 0). In order to validate the B-eld expressions given by the theoretical
model, we used FEM simulation with Comsol software via magnetic and electric module library. In
the simulation Graphical User Interface (GUI), the
spiral should be surrounded by air and biased using a
DC current at one terminal while grounding the second.
In Figure 4c, the magnetic eld density contour surrounding one spiral is evaluated, along an x-z sectional
plane, showing a rapid decrease when moving away
from the conductor cross section.
Using analytical approach, the curve of Bx inside a
spiral, as a function of the uctuation magnitude, was
plotted in Figure 5a for dierent average spirals spacing
"a, while setting y 0. It is worth noticing that the
radial component curve increases linearly reaching a
variable maximum value, referenced by Bx-max, in a certain critical position z0, then decreases smoothly (see
Figure 5a). Almost, the same curves were found using
FEM simulations, conrming the analytic approach
already detailed in (Hadj et al., 2014).
The maximum value of the radial magnetic eld
component as well as the critical position can be evaluated theoretically using these expressions (Francis and
Krzysztof, 2013):

-50
0
50
100
Vertical position z [m]

150

200

250

!
0
a
p I1
n1
4 "a 8 "2a a2

5.5

Analytic
FEM

5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
100

120

140
160
180
200
Average spiral spacing a [m]

220

Figure 5. (a) Analytic approach and FEM simulation of the radial component Bx curve while keeping y 0 for different spiral spacing
"a and (b) Maximum magnetic field Bx-max as a function of the distance between inner and outer spiral.

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Hadj Said et al.

220

4.2. Induced voltage evaluation

when the inner inductor is shifted

Analytic
FEM

Vertical offset z0 [m]

200

Based on previous observations, we will assume that the

inner inductor was shifted by z0 (see Figure 7a). As a
consequence, the surrounding magnetic eld, expressed
by equation 7, will be constant and maximized, so the
corresponding induced voltage is given by:

180
160

140

eoff

! !
!
v ^ B dl 4a  2"a Bx-max v

loop

120

100
100

120

140
160
180
200
Average spiral spacing a [m]

220

Figure 6. Evaluation of the vertical position, zo, over the average spirals spacing.

r
q

2


1
12"2a a2 4"a a2  4"2a a2  "a
z0 
4
8
In order to investigate the variation of Bx-max,
Figure 5b shows the decrement of this maximum as a
function of the distance between the internal and external average spirals when using dierent calculation
methods (direct method given by equation 7 and point
by point plot resulting from FEM simulation). Since
Bxmax is inversely proportional to "a2 as shown in
both equation 7 and Figure 5b, it can be deduced that
the inner inductor should be placed as close as possible to
the outer one to take advantage of the greatest possible
magnetic eld magnitude, and then optimize the generated induced voltage as stipulated by Faradays law.
To conrm the developed theory, equation 8 is
drawn in Figure 6 and validated numerically using
FEM, we noted that when moving away from the
outer inductor toward the diaphragm center, the critical
vertical position increases, as clearly shown. Therefore,
we can deduce that the optimum oset position should
be ideally equal to the average spirals spacing. Based on
these observations, we can come out with the idea to
establish a vertical oset between the primary and secondary inductors in order to take advantage of the
maximum and locally stagnant magnetic elds in the
vicinity of the new uctuation position. In the next section, we will demonstrate that for a given critical position z0, the generated induced voltage will depend only
on inductors geometrical parameters and membrane
velocity but not on displacement, which is very important to broaden the sensitivity curve of the proposed
electrodynamic microsensor.

Moreover, the equation ruling the membrane displacement, , associated to a harmonic motion around the
new rest oset zo becomes  hz.sin(!pt) zo, where !p
is the angular velocity of the incident acoustic pressure,
hz is the membrane displacement maximum magnitude
and t is time. Thus the corresponding induced voltage,
eo, can be expressed by (Francis and Krzysztof, 2013):
eoff

0
n1 n2


!
aa  2"a
p I1 v K Bx-max v
"a 8"2a a2

10

where K is a purely geometric constant parameter.

Based on equation 10, the electromotive force eo is
inversely proportional to the distance between the two
inductors "a, i.e., in the same way the inner inductor
location should be implemented as close as possible to
the outer one. In the other hand, it should be placed the
nearest possible to the membrane center since its deection will be higher (as shown in Figure 3b). So, in order
to nd the optimal inner inductors position, we need to
calculate the resulting induced voltage for dierent possible location on the membrane.
Given that the induced voltage is found by the product of the magnetic eld and velocity (integral of displacement), thus when placing the inductance close to
the membrane edge, the membranes velocity is minimal, however the magnetic eld is maximal and vice
versa. Then, to maximize the induced voltage given by
equation 10, an optimal location of the internal inductance must be evaluated based on a compromise
between either maximizing magnetic eld or membrane
velocity. Figure 7b shows the evaluated induced voltage, given by equation 10, for dierent inner average
spiral locations, under an actuating pressure of 0.1 Pa
at the resonance frequency. We notice that the optimal
induced voltage is obtained when the inner inductor
average diameter is located around 200mm away from
the diaphragm edge (which leads to "a 200mm
(w s).n/2 250mm). This same value should be considered as a vertical oset to induce a maximize voltage.
However, damping eect is a key parameter for setting
operation bandwidth as will be explained later. A

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Journal of Vibration and Control

Figure 7. (a) Vertical offset illustration between inner and outer spirals and (b) Induced voltage evaluation for different inner average
spiral locations, under an actuating pressure of 0.1 Pa at the resonance frequency.

technical method to achieve the vertical shift of the

inner inductor will be discussed in the next section.

4.3. Technological method for membrane shifting

After designing each inductor on a separate substrate, a
wafer bonding method should be added in the microphones process ow to ensure a vertical oset of the
membrane and consequently the inner inductor design.
Nowadays, wafer bonding is one of the most promising
techniques for MEMS microphones fabrication and
packaging (Bergqvist et al., 1991; Pang et al., 2008).
Many bonding approaches are suitable for MEMS
applications as anodic bonding, fusion bonding, eutectic bonding and adhesive bonding (Dragoi et al., 2003).
In our case, the latter technique will be used since it has
simple process properties in addition to the ability to
form high aspect ratio micro structures with low cost.
The adhesive bonding consists of introducing an intermediate layer between both wafers, such as SU-8 epoxy
based negative photoresist. The main advantage of
using this approach is the low temperature processing
(maximum temperatures below 450 C), the thickness of
the SU-8 which can reach hundreds of mm, the absence
of electric voltage usage and the ability of using dierent substrate types (Silicon, Glass, Metal, etc).
Figure 8 shows the proposed process to obtain a
vertical position of the inner inductor with the membrane. Firstly, each wafer is fabricated separately,
shown in Figure 8a and Figure 8b, then they are
bonded together as shown in Figure 8c. A back side
bulk micromachining post process should be applied

to the chip #1 in order to release the diaphragm and

access connection pads of the inner inductor. Other
techniques are under study to get the same oset position without modifying the original standard sensor
design. Ideas include the use of Lorentz force, which
is embedded in the inner inductor, and/or the residual
stress occurred during the fabrication process, etc.
Finally in the last section, the overall microphones sensitivity will be deduced after including the acoustic
eect of the pressure wave as well as the air gap
under the membrane.

4.4. Sensitivity evaluation with shifted membrane

The overall sensitivity depends on domains involved in
the microphone operation principle which are acoustical-mechanical-magnetic. The acoustic domain eect is
present when the incident pressure hits the membrane
surface which produces an acoustic wave radiating outward. In fact, when the diaphragm vibrates in response
to a sound pressure, a sound wave is generated in contact with the air particles and radiates outward, it acts
as a speaker (Baltes et al., 2005). This eect can be
modeled using radiation impedance represented by an
acoustical resistance and a mass given by (Jusoe, 2013):
Zac
rad

1 air 2
4 air
! Rrad j! Mrad
! j
8 cair
3 L

11

where air is the air density, Cair is the sound velocity in

the air. On the other hand, the diaphragm represents a
mechanical resonator, which is a key element in the

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Hadj Said et al.

Figure 8. 3D Microphone structure process flow using adhesive wafer bonding.

acoustic-mechanical transduction scheme. This can be

explained by the fact that when an incident pressure Pin
physically hits the diaphragm top surface, a uctuation
of this same surface occurs. This uctuation is modeled
by mechanical impedance composed by a mass and an
ideal compliance Cdia which is inversely proportional
to the mechanical stiness, Kdia. Therefore, membrane
mechanical behavior can be modeled by a stiness and
mass given by:
Zme
dia j! Mdia

Kdia
j!

12

The membrane uctuation, due to the acoustic pressure, will transmit pressure, Pcav, to the gap underneath. When the air volume contained in the closed

gap under the diaphragm is compressed, it can be

assimilated to a damping force. In fact, a viscous damping will be produced via the air lm compression
trapped between the diaphragm and the cavity base.
This viscous squeeze lm damping arises from the interaction of the air with a mechanical structure in motion
(Bao and Yang, 2007). Like all surface phenomena, it
has a much greater inuence on the microscopic scale
than in the macroscopic scale. The damping force in the
gap can be modeled by a damping coecient referred to
an acoustic resistance Rair and by a compressibility
eect modeled by a stiness coecient Kair (Zandi,
2013). Concerning the damping coecient, it depends
on both gap thickness and diaphragm dimensions. To
nd out this damping coecient, we performed rstly a
FEM simulation using the squeeze lm damping

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10

Journal of Vibration and Control

module in Comsol , which solves Reynolds equation

between two parallel plates. This study was performed
under a specic multiphysics boundary conditions set,
such that mechanical boundary (xed constraint, pressure load), and lm boundary conditions (the lm pressure is zero at edges). Moreover, in simulation, we may
need to include some eects in the air gap, such as the
rarefaction eects. This eect can inuence the damping coecient especially for narrow bands, as mentioned in (Rocha et al. 2006). In our case, the
Knudsen number Kn that relates the gas specic mean
free path, l, and the gap thickness G (Kn l/G) is lower
than 0.01 for dierent studied gaps (see Table 2), so we
can neglect this eect in the simulation.
In Figure 9a, a harmonic analysis was performed
and the pressure distribution in the cavity under the
membrane has been plotted at a frequency of 1.6 kHz.
We can note that pressure near plate edges is almost
equal to the atmospheric pressure, whereas the highest
pressure was around 18  108 Pa, which appears
around the middle regions. In addition, we also note
that during uctuation, air is owing from the center to
the closest edges, and seems to be extremely weak

Table 2. FEM simulation for the Knudsen number for different

air gap thicknesses.
Gap thickness,
G (mm)
Knudsen
number, Kn

250

100

80

50

2.7 .104

6.9 .104

8.6 .104

1.4 .103

around membrane corners. To quantify the damping

coecient, we integrated the pressure distribution
under the membrane that induces the damping force.
This latter gathers both real and imaginary parts, so the
damping coecient was deduced by dividing the
imaginary part of the corresponding damping force
by the structure velocity Rmec
air Im(Fdam)/V, where
Rmec
denotes
the
mechanical
damping coecient
air
(Zandi, 2013; Nigro et al., 2012). Figure 9b shows the
simulated damping coecient for dierent air gaps
thicknesses. We noted that this coecient increases
when the air gap decreases.
Moreover, we need to check the compressibility
eect in the air gap. Indeed, when the air is considered
as compressible, it leads to certain rigidity in the gap, so
we need to introduce another corrective coecient that
models the stiness or compliance of the air inside the
gap. To verify the air compressibility, we need to nd
the Squeeze number , which is dened by (Bao and
Yang, 2007):


12L2 !p
Pa G

13

where  is the air viscosity, Pa is the ambient pressure

and !p is the frequency of the audible sound. If the
number s is >>1, then the air can be considered as
compressible. In our case, and based on Figure 10,
the squeeze number increases with frequency and is
always << 1, for dierent air gaps in the audible frequency range. Thus, we can consider that the air is
incompressible and hence neglect the stiness eect in
the nal sensitivity expression. Finally, the impedance

Figure 9. FEM simulation showing (a) pressure and air flow distribution in cavity under the membrane for a gap equal to 250 mm and
(b) Integrated damping coefficient as a fonction of the air gap.

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Hadj Said et al.

11

describing the air gap in acoustical domain can be written as:

Zac
air

Rme
air
S2

14

The nal eect that we have to study concerns the

mechanical-magnetic conversion. The diaphragm uctuation will generate an induced voltage at the inner inductor ends. This electrodynamic phenomenon is modeled
by a magnetic induction link reected by equation 4.
Since the microphones dimensions are small compared to the smallest wavelength of interest (l at 20 kHz
is around 17 mm), the dierent parameters introduced
above can be gathered in a lumped element model representing all the previously explained eects (see
Figure 11). When applying analogy between dierent
energy elds, a lumped element model of the

0.25

Gap=250m
Gap=100m
Gap=80m
Gap=50m

Squeeze number

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

10
Frequency [Hz]

15

20

microphone can be built. The analogy requires a

series connection of all elements crossed by the same
acoustic ow and in parallel elements corresponding to
a ow addition. The lumped model consists of a suspended diaphragm, which separates the back chamber
from the front space, playing a role of mechanical
springs. We consider, as the only possible movement,
a vertical harmonic oscillation around its rest position,
which will progressively damp until it stops. This damping comes, on one hand, from the acoustic radiation
and the reaction forces of the environment opposing
to the movement, and, on the other hand, from the
energy losses by internal friction in the suspension.
The electro-acoustic lumped equivalent model, shown
in Figure 11, essentially consists of four components:
{1} the radiation impedance, Mrad and Rrad, generated
by the diaphragm movement, {2} the diaphragm
impedance itself, Mdia and Cdia (the compliance is
equal to the inverse of the resistance, Kdia), {3} the acoustic resistance of the cavity beneath the diaphragm, Rair. In
our electro-acoustic model, the voltage is represented by
the sound pressure acting on the diaphragm, pin(t), and
the current is represented through the acoustic ow, w(t).
The developed circuit links the dierent domains together
through transformers and gyrators, with an appropriate
coupling coecient (Blackstock, 2000). The coupling
coecient between mechanical and acoustical domains
is S, which represents the membrane surface (Rossi,
2007; Tounsi et al., 2015). This coecient relates the
acoustic pressure that hits the membrane with the mechanical force F. In the same context, it also relates the
acoustic ow rate w and the velocity of the membrane v
as given by the following system:


Figure 10. Squeeze number evolution as a function of the

diaphgram fluctuation frequency.

Figure 11. Lumped elements model of the microphone coupling different involved domains.

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P FS
wSv

15

12

Journal of Vibration and Control

Moreover, K  Bx,max, coecient deduced from equation

10, represents the coupling coecient between the mechanical and the electric domain. This coecient relates,
through a gyrator, the electromagnetic force (or Laplace
force) and the current across the inner inductor ends. In
addition, it relates the induced voltage with the mechanical
velocity of the membrane as shown in the following system:


FLor KBxmax i

16

eoff K Bxmax v

Subsequently, the lumped model scheme was simplied by transferring elements from the mechanical
domain to the acoustical domain as shown in
Figure 12. This simplication was obtained using coupling coecients between mechanical and acoustic
impedance deduced from this equivalence:
Zmec

F P:S
w S2 Zac
v
S

17

From our model, we assume that the force F due to the

incident pressure is higher compared to the electromagnetic force shown in equation 16, so the acoustical ow
was determined and can be written as:
w

Zac
ray

Pin
ac
Zac
dia Zair

18

After simplication, the total sensitivity, Sen, was deduced

by combining equations 15, 16 and 18 and is given by:
Sen

eoff K:Bx-max
1

ac
ac
Zray Zac
Pin
S
dia Zair

19

Based on equation 19, we can notice that the sensitivity is proportional to the coecient K  Bx-max
(which mainly depends on the current I1, the inner
inductor length and the spiral numbers as shown
in equation 10). The sensitivity was drawn in
Figure 13.a as a function of the frequency, for dierent
air gap thicknesses. We can note the broadening of
the bandwidth when the air gap is narrower in the
detriment of the sensitivity magnitude. So, unlike the
electrostatic microphone, dynamic performance in
the electrodynamic microphone is proportional to the
membranes velocity since uctuation is controlled by a
resistance and not by compliance (Tounsi et al., 2015).
In fact, the microphone sensitivity is proportional to
the diaphragm displacement when the electrical eld
is used for electromechanical transduction (capacitive
or piezoelectric principle); the term displacement
microphone is often used to name this family. If the
microphone transduction eect is based on magnetic
eld (electromagnetic or electrodynamic), then its sensitivity will be proportional to its diaphragm velocity.
Usually, the corresponding family is named as velocity
microphone (Tounsi et al., 2009). In the case of capacitive microphones, the resonant frequency coincides
with the high cuto frequency. The electrostatic microphone is designed to operate at a frequency range lower
than the resonant frequency where its constant
frequency response is controlled by the rigidity. For
microphones using a magnetic eld, the resonant frequency is located at the center of the useful frequency
range of the microphone. From the same Figure 13a we
note that, for 100mm-gap thickness, the microphone has
quite large bandwidth (from 37.6 Hz to 26.5 kHz),
which is suitable for audio applications, and has a frequency response broader than some microphones in
bibliography, such as the one designed by Horng

Figure 12. Simplified lumped model of the microphone after transformation to the acoustic domain.

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Hadj Said et al.

13

(a) -80

-85
-90

Gap=250m
Gap=100m
Gap=80m
Gap=50m

-50
Sensitivity [dB.V/Pa]

Sensitivity [dB.V/Pa]

(b)

Gap=250m
Gap=100m
Gap=80m
Gap=50m

-95
-100
-105

-100

-150

-110
-200

-115
-120 1
10

10

10
Frequency [Hz]

10

10

-250 1
10

10

10
Frequency [Hz]

10

10

Figure 13. Microphone sensitivity (a) with vertical offset for the inner inductor and (b) without vertical offset of the inner inductor.

Table 3. Final optimized dimensions and main used parameters for microphone sensitivity evaluation.
Microphone dimension

Value

Acoustic and Magnetic parameters

Value

Number of turns n1 and n2

Distance between average inductances ("a)
Outer inductor average side (a)
Inductor width (w) and pitch (s)
Membrane side (L)
Membrane thikness (th)
Gap height (G) and offset position (zo)

50 turns
104 mm
1604 mm
1 mm
1500 mm
0.3 mm
100 mm

Current flowing in external coil (I1)

Air viscosity ()
Sound velocity (Cair)
Electric conductivity ( A)
Mean free path ()
Ambient pressure (Pa)
Air density (air)

100 mA
1,6.105 Ns.m2
331 ms1
37,7.106 sm1
69 nm
1,01.105 Pa
1,21 kg/m3

et al. (2010) (50 Hz20 kHz). The theoretical sensitivity value, before amplication, is found to be equal
6.3 mV/Pa (104 dBV/Pa), which is in the same
range as piezoresistive and piezoelectric microphones
(Sheplak et al., 1998; Horowitz et al., 2007). Those performances make our new proposed electrodynamic
technique competent with traditional transducers.
In the case where the inner inductor was in-plane, as
shown in the sensor basic design of Figure 1, the radial
magnetic eld component will depend on the membrane displacement, and will not be constant as in the
case of the shifted membrane. This dependence on the
displacement is due to the fact that the radial magnetic
eld is linearly proportional to z, for low amplitude
uctuation value. The nal optimized microsensors
dimensions for acting as a microphone are summarized
in Table 3. The proposed design of the Figure 8 requires
a vertical oset almost equals to the gap thickness and
to the separation between the averages spirals, to be
placed wherein the magnetic eld is maximum and

stationary (see Figure 5a). On the contrary, the basic

design of the electrodynamic microphone, shown in
Figure 1, allows only a designing of a displacement
conversion microphone (Hadj et al., 2015). Applying
the same developed theory on the initial design (coplanar inductors), results in a sensitivity which is maximum around the membrane resonant frequency, with
a tiny bandwidth as shown in Figure 13b. Theses performances make the basic design more useful in applications like frequency detector or ultrasonic testing
sensors which require a high sensitivity within a
narrow bandwidth (resonance model). Finally, the proposed microphone represents the advantage of being
the rst micromachined electrodynamic microphone
which allows a standard monolithic integration with
its electronic circuitry while oering a competitive performance to the mostly used capacitive counterpart.
Moreover, its standard structure design leads to a considerable reduction not only in the occupied surface but
also in the unit cost.

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14

Journal of Vibration and Control

5. Conclusion
In this paper, the basic electrodynamic microsensor
design has been adjusted by shifting the inner inductor
position to be used in acoustic microphone applications. In fact, the magnetic eld evaluation shows that
for a given oset position, the B-eld is maximum and
constant. Based on this observation, a complete study
of the microsensor has been performed using both analytic equations and FEM simulations. The microphone
study consists, rstly, in the determination of the membrane mechanical properties such us dynamic behavior,
resonant frequency and displacement. In the second
part, the optimum location for the inner inductor has
been deduced thought the induced voltage examination
when using an incident pressure of 0.1 Pa. This was
done for dierent distances between inner and outer
inductors. Thereafter, the overall dynamic sensitivity
was determined by coupling all involved domains in
the microphone. Damping eect is a key parameter
which has been considered in the electrodynamic microphone since it aects deeply the bandwidth of the
sensor. In fact, two kinds of microphones can be distinguished, namely: (i) velocity type (resistive controlled) or (ii) displacement type (compliance
controlled). So, the presented electrodynamic design is
unlike electrostatic microphones which dynamic performance is controlled through the membrane stiness,
which means that their resonance peak is just above the
useful frequency band. The proposed MEMS-based
microsensor design improves performances, especially
the bandwidth, by designing a velocity conversion electrodynamic microphone controlled by resistance (or
damping). For an air gap of 100 mm, the bandwidth
was found to be around (37.6 Hz to 26.5 kHz) with a
dynamic sensitivity of 6.30 mV/Pa, which is considered
acceptable compared to MEMS-based conventional
microphones.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Mrs Nidhi Maheshwari from
department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay for discussing technology issues. In addition, authors are indebted
to Prof. Libor Rufer from TIMA Laboratory at University of
Grenoble Alpes in France for his kind help, discussions and
advice.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.

Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following nancial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this

article: This work was carried out with support from the
Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientic
Research and the Department of Science & Technology,
India in the framework of the Tunisian-Indian joint research
cooperation in the eld of scientic and technological
research.

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