The Optical MEMS Advantage
The improvement of the key microphone parameter (SNR) for MEMS microphones has reached a ceiling with today’s transducer technologies. Small improvements in performance can be achieved by e.g. including additional transducers elements in a MEMS package. This approach quickly adds complexity and cost, and can only go so far. A new transducer technology is required to make a significant leap in performance – optical MEMS!
sensiBel’s patented optical MEMS technology that makes the microphone so sensitive is based on a combination of two optical phenomena; interference and diffraction, both of which are due to the wave character of light. In simple terms, the microphone uses a tiny energy-efficient laser to measure extremely accurately the motion of a silicon-based membrane, thanks to the integrated photodetector readout system. This ultra-low self-noise readout principle gives the high SNR characteristic, yet in a small MEMS package with low power consumption.
Additional benefits of the optical MEMS transducer system are enhanced environmental robustness e.g. against dust, and significantly reduced likelihood for stiction (the membrane stuck to the backplate).
sensiBel’s patented optical MEMS technology that makes the microphone so sensitive is based on a combination of two optical phenomena; interference and diffraction, both of which are due to the wave character of light. In simple terms, the microphone uses a tiny energy-efficient laser to measure extremely accurately the motion of a silicon-based membrane, thanks to the integrated photodetector readout system. This ultra-low self-noise readout principle gives the high SNR characteristic, yet in a small MEMS package with low power consumption.
Additional benefits of the optical MEMS transducer system are enhanced environmental robustness e.g. against dust, and significantly reduced likelihood for stiction (the membrane stuck to the backplate).
