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january 2014 docid025705 rev 1 1/19 AN4427 application note gasket design for optima l acoustic performance in mems microphones introduction this application note serves as a reference for the design of gaskets in mems microphones, providing recommend ations and best practices in order to achieve optimal acoustic performance of these devices. www.st.com
contents AN4427 2/19 docid025705 rev 1 contents 1 acoustic gasket and sealing gui delines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.1 best practices for sealing mems mi crophones in consumer applications . 5 1.2 acoustic theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.3 gasket design recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 appendix a bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2 revision history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
docid025705 rev 1 3/19 AN4427 list of figures 19 list of figures figure 1. application example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 figure 2. mp34dt01 x-ray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 figure 3. mems microphone cavity to be simulated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 figure 4. mp34dt01 frequency response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 figure 5. mp34dt01 frequency response vs. tube length. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 figure 6. mp34dt01 frequency response vs. tube radius. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 figure 7. simulated complex geometries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 figure 8. mp34dt01 frequency response vs. complex geometr y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 figure 9. subdomain materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 figure 10. resonance peak magnitude vs. materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 figure 11. example of tablet - design and acoustic cavity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 figure 12. frequency response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
list of tables AN4427 4/19 docid025705 rev 1 list of tables table 1. resonance peak vs. tube length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 table 2. resonance peak vs. tube radius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 table 3. resonance peak vs. geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 table 4. acoustic properties of materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 table 5. resonance peak magnitude vs. mate rials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 table 6. document revision history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
docid025705 rev 1 5/19 AN4427 acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines 19 1 acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines 1.1 best practices for sealing mems microphones in consumer applications mems microphones, owing to their form factor, are suitable components for many consumer products such as laptops, smartphones, tablets and portable devices in general. consumer devices have progressively become ve ry small and thin and the sound inlet of the microphone is not placed in direct interface with the environment. as a matter of fact, the devices hosting the microphone commonly ha ve a plastic cover. this mechanical construction requires interposing, between th e cover of the device and the sound inlet, a gasket which serves to guide the sound wave. additionally, if the microphone is a bottom port, the pcb width also increments the acoustic path between the sound source and the microphone sound inlet. the picture below show s an example of a gasket used in a tablet. figure 1. application example basically the acoustic cavity created by th e components involved (cover, gasket and the pcb, if bottom-port package) modifies the frequency response of the microphone. the equations regulating the behavior of a stationa ry wave inside an acoustic cavity are complex and depend on the geometry of the volumes involved such as the hole in the cover, the hole produced in the gasket and, for bottom-port conf igurations only, the diameter of the pcb via. additionally, the behavior of the entire frequency response depends also on the material of these components. for these reasons, st provi des a simulation of the frequency response behavior using the professional tool comsol ? . the following sections describe experiments using this tool to determine basic guidelines for designing a proper gasket. 1.2 acoustic theory in microphone applications, a gasket placed on top of the sound inlet works a resonator. an acoustic resonator works in the following man ner: when air is forced into a cavity, the pressure inside increases; when the external force pushing the air into the cavity is
acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines AN4427 6/19 docid025705 rev 1 removed, the higher -pressure air inside will fl ow out. the cavity will be left at a pressure slightly lower than the outside, causing air to be drawn back in. this process repeats with the magnitude of the pressure changes decreasing each time. the air in the port (the neck of the chamber) has mass. since it is in motion, it possesses some momentum. a longer port would make for a larger mass, and vice-versa. the diameter of the port is related to the mass of air and the volume of the chamber. a po rt that is too small in area for the chamber volume will "choke" the flow while one that is to o large in area for t he chamber volume tends to reduce the momentum of the air in the port. helmholtz resonance is the phenomenon of air resonance in a cavity, such as when one blows across the top of an empty bottle. the name comes from a device created in the 1850s by hermann von helmholtz, the "helmholtz resonator", which he, the author of the classic study of acoustic scienc e, used to identify the various frequencies or musical pitches present in music and other complex sounds. if the volume of the mems cavity is greater than the neck, the resonator corresponds exactly to a helmholtz resonator. more commonly this condition is not respected since the volu me of the mems cavity is smaller than the entire volume created by the gasket cavity. hence, since the equations regulating the behavior of a stationary wave inside an acoustic cavity are complex and depend on the geometry of every involved acoustic cavity , the use of a simulating tool like comsol ? is mandatory. the comsol ? tool supports the five standard problems or scenarios that occur frequently when analyzing acoustics: 1. the radiation problem: a vibrating structur e (a speaker, for example) radiates sound into the surrounding space. a far-away boundary condition is necessary to model the unbounded domain. 2. the scattering problem: an incident wave impinges on a body and creates a scattered wave. a far-away radiation boundary condition is necessary. 3. the sound field in an interior space (such as a room): the acoustic waves stay in a finite volume so no radiation condition is necessary. 4. coupled fluid-elastic structure interaction (structural acoustics). if the radiating or scattering structure consists of an elas tic material, then one must consider the interaction between the body and the surrou nding fluid. in multiphysics coupling, the acoustic analysis provides a load (the soun d pressure) to the structural analysis, and the structural analysis provides acce lerations to the acoustic analysis. 5. the transmission problem: the incident soun d wave propagates into a body, which can have different acoustic properties. pressure and acceleration are continuous on the boundary. in the case of a microphone, the scenario consider ed is the sound field in an interior space. additionally the tool allows setting the bounda ry condition for every surface in order to define the problem to simulate. typical boundary conditions are: ? sound-hard boundaries. a sound-hard boundary is a boundary at which the normal component of the acceleration is zero. this means that the normal derivative of the pressure is zero at the boundary. this condition will be used to understand the dependency of the sound-soft boundaries. ? sound-soft boundaries. this means that the differential pressure vanishes at the boundary. ? impedance boundary conditions. the impedanc e boundary condition is a generalization of the sound-hard and sound-soft boundary co nditions. from a physical point of view, the
docid025705 rev 1 7/19 AN4427 acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines 19 acoustic input impedance is the ratio between pressure and normal particle velocity. the impedance boundary condition is a good appr oximation for a locally reacting surface defined as a surface for which the normal ve locity at any point depends only on the pressure at that exact point. ? radiation boundary conditions. the radiation boundary conditions allow an outgoing wave to leave the modeling domain with mini mal reflections. this condition will never be used when simulating microphones. 1.3 gasket design recommendations st provides simulations for customer-specific projects. this section provides gasket design recommendations based on experience. in order to determine the best practices fo r gasket design, experiments were performed using the comsol ? tool. the method consists of simulating the effect of defined geometries placed close to the sound inlet of the microphone. these simulations have been carried out, checking how such geometries c an modify the frequency response of the st top-port microphone mp34dt01. the low frequency behavior depends on the ventilation hole and the back chamber while the high freq uency response depends on the geometry of the front chamber only. basically the addition of a gasket modifies the whole geometry of the front chamber since the mp34dt01 has the mems close to the sound inlet. for this reason, the geometry of the package is not considered in the following simulations and the range of the study starts from 100 hz up to 50 khz. figure 2. mp34dt01 x-ray the first simulation performed with the comsol ? tool represents the frequency response of the mp34dt01, applying 1 pascal at th e sound inlet and setti ng the silicon material properties as impedance boundary conditions. the tool solves the acoustic equations for every discrete point of the geometry and at the en d of the simulation it is possible to plot the collected data in a relevant point. the evaluati on point for the frequency response is one of the 4 corners of the mems membrane.
acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines AN4427 8/19 docid025705 rev 1 figure 3. mems microphone cavity to be simulated according to the re sults of the simulation, represented in the figure below, the response of the mp34dt01 microphone can be considered flat across the entire audio band and has small increases after 20 khz. despite this increment, the assumption that the frequency response of a geometry including microphone and gasket solely depends on the addition of a gasket is a good approximation. figure 4. mp34dt01 frequency response the first experiment consists of a simulati on using cylindrical tubes with fixed radius (200 m) and different lengths. on the othe r hand, the second experiment consists of a simulation using cylindrical tubes with fixed leng th (2 mm) but different diameters. from the results of these two experiments, it is possible to determine the effect of a gasket depending on its length and width. in the following simulations the boundary conditions of the gasket, as well as the microphone cavity, surfaces have been set to sound-hard boundaries. under this condition the simula tion will show the effect of the geo metry only and neglects the effect of the involved materials. am17598v1 +0.5db @ 20 khz
docid025705 rev 1 9/19 AN4427 acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines 19 figure 5. mp34dt01 frequency response vs. tube length the figure below represents the frequency re sponse versus the radius of the tube. figure 6. mp34dt01 frequency response vs. tube radius table 1. resonance peak vs. tube length tube length (mm) resonance frequency (hz) 0.5 39900 1 29600 2 20600 3 16200 4 13400 am17599v1 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 100 1000 10000 magnitude (db) frequency (hz) comsol tube 0.5mm - r200e-6 comsol tube 1mm - r200e-6 comsol tube 2mm - r200e-6 comsol tube 3mm - r200e-6 comsol tube 4mm - r200e-6 am17600v1 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 1000 10000 magnitude (db) frequency (hz) comsol tube 2mm - r200e-6 comsol tube 2mm - r300e-6 comsol tube 2mm - r400e-6 comsol tube 2mm - r500e-6
acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines AN4427 10/19 docid025705 rev 1 starting from these preliminary results, it is po ssible to state that geometry placed on top of the microphone cavity produces a resonance effect. the above results can be summarized in two basics conclusions: 1. firstly the resonance frequency moves lower and higher in the frequency domain, respectively increasing or decreasing the length of the gasket. 2. conversely, the resonance frequency moves lower and higher in the frequency domain, respectively decreasing or increasing the radius of the gasket. hence, if the gasket designer want to keep the frequency response flat as much as possible, the first recommendation is to keep the gasket short and wide. the following simulations are aimed to further investigate the dependence of the resonance frequency, increasing the complexity of the geometry. the figures below represent the simulated geometries and the respective results. figure 7. simulate d complex geometries table 2. resonance peak vs. tube radius tube radius (m) resonance frequency (hz) 2.00e-04 20600 3.00e-04 26900 4.00e-04 31000 5.00e-04 33700
docid025705 rev 1 11/19 AN4427 acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines 19 figure 8. mp34dt01 frequency response vs. complex geometry basically the goal of the above simulations is to understand the effect of the addition of different volumes in terms of radius and leng th with respect to a fixed geometry. the first simulation is a simple geometry, figure 7 (a), while the next geometries [ figure 7 (b), (c), (d), (e)] increase the complexity of the prev ious one, adding different radius and length volumes. for example, the second geometry incl udes a volume with a doubled radius close to the microphone sound inlet, the third one reaches a radius of 1 mm, the fourth geometry interposes a doubled radius volume at the middle of the original tube and the last one increases the entire volume except a 1 mm length section close to the microphone sound inlet. the geometries of the figure 7 (f) and (g) are a little bit different. the purpose of the last two simulations is to check if the resonan ce frequency depends on the inclination of the tube or not. the simulations done, the observations given below are helpful to understand how the resonance frequency of a simple geometry moves in the frequency domain due to the addition of different volumes. the next cons ideration must be read as a comparison with respect to the first geometry. checking the results of the simulations in figure 8 , the following observations can be asserted: 1. the introduction of a bigger volume geometr y, in the side close to the sound inlet, forces the resonance peak to lower frequencies ( figure 7 (b), blue trace in figure 8 ) 2. the resonance peak moves to a lower frequency in proportion to the increase of the diameter of the geometry close to the sound inlet ( figure 7 (c), violet trace in figure 8 ) 3. the resonance peak moves to higher frequencies when the bigger geometry moves away from the sound inlet of the microphone. ( figure 7 (d) (e), green and red traces in figure 8 ) 4. the resonance peak depends on the geometry, length and width, only. the peak position is independent of geometry inclination. the geometry in figure 7 (f) represents the same structure of the figure 7 (a) but rotated 90 degrees, the two respective simulation results are almost the same (yellow and orange traces in figure 8 ). the last simulation, geometry represented in figure 7 (g), has been performed to double check the previous statement. the geometry is similar to that of figure 7 (b) and the simulation results are almost the same (blue and cyan traces in figure 8 ) am17601v1 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 100 1000 10000 (a): l=4mm ; r=300u (b): l=4mm ; r1=300u ; r2= 600u (c): l=4mm ; r1=300u ; r2= 1mm (d): l=4mm ; r1=300u ; r2= 600u; r3= 300u (e): l=4mm ; r1=600u ; r2= 300u (f): tank l=4mm ; r=300u (g): tank l=4mm ; r=300u ; w= 600u
acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines AN4427 12/19 docid025705 rev 1 these simulated geometries are helpful when the gasket designer must introduce different volumes. this constraint can occur when the wh ole application forces the placement of the microphone far from the chassis or perpendicular to the chassis. the following table summarizes the resonances frequency position according to the simulated geometries. the simulations performed so far have been focused on the contribution of the geometry on the microphone frequency response. there is another important parameter to be introduced to provide a proper analysis of the gaskets: t he acoustic impedance of the involved material. basically, while the position of resonance frequency depends on the geometry of the whole structure, the magnitude of the resonance pe ak depends on the acoustic impedance of the materials. the comsol ? tool allows setting, as boundary conditions, the material properties of each surface involved in the simu lation. the goal of the following simulations is to determine the relationship between the resonance peak magnitudes with respect to the acoustic properties of the material. this target will be achieved by setting impedance boundary conditions (a) instead of sound-hard boundaries in the tool. for each surface the proper acoustic impedance of the material will be set. the si mulations will be performed, firstly setting the pressure at the structure so und inlet opening (1pa), setting the acoustic impedance of the mems membrane (120*150) and setting the silicon cavity impedance (2000*1500). the above parameters are common to the entire real situation while the gasket surfaces acoustic impedance can vary according to the designer?s preference. as a matter of fact, the gasket can consist of plastic, rubber or other materials. additionally the cover can be made of aluminum or iron or plastic as well. referring to the following figu re, the yellow, pink and gre en surfaces will be set and kept fixed according to their real acoustic impedance while the blue surface will be modified according to the properties of the different materials. table 3. resonance peak vs. geometry geometry resonance frequency (hz) (a): l = 4 mm; r = 300 16600 (b): l = 4 mm; r1 = 300 ; r2 = 600 11600 (c): l = 4 mm; r1 = 300 ; r2 = 1 mm 7500 (d): l = 4 mm; r1 = 300 ; r2= 600 ; r3 = 300 14600 (e): l = 4 mm; r1 = 600 ; r2 = 300 22700 (f): tank l = 4 mm; r = 300 15600 (g): tank l = 4 mm; r = 300 ; w = 600 12200 a. the acoustic impedance is defined as the product of the dens ity of the material and the speed of sound in that material: z acu = p x c.
docid025705 rev 1 13/19 AN4427 acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines 19 figure 9. subdomain materials the following table summarizes the acoustic properties of the most common materials used by manufacturers of electronics: plastic or aluminum concerning the covers; soft and hard rubber concerning the gaske t; silicon and pcb concerning the electronic components. the following graphic depicts the behavior of the magnitude of the resonance peak, keeping silicon and mems membrane materials fixed an d changing the material of the gasket only. while the geometry of the entire application behaves as a resonator, the acoustic property of the material works as a damping factor. the peak is attenuated in proportion to the softness of the material used as the gasket. th e gasket designer can c hoose the material of the gasket according to his own needs. where the frequency response must be kept flat as much as possible, the materials involved must be chosen as supple as possible. table 4. acoustic properties of materials material density (kg / m 3 ) sound velocity in material (m/s) air 1.2 343 aluminum 2700 6400 pcb 1850 2740 glass 2400 4000 silicon 2000 1500 hard rubber 1520 150 soft rubber 200 150 plastic 1200 2500 lead 11340 1150 iron 7870 5000 mems membrane 120 150
acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines AN4427 14/19 docid025705 rev 1 figure 10. resonance peak magnitude vs. materials the next table summarizes the results of the simulations. the following simulation is an example of a real case study of the frequency response of a bottom-port microphone. in partic ular, the following figu re illustrates a possib le structure of a tablet concerning the microphone section. in this example the bottom-port microphone is mounted on the pcb, a soft rubber gasket has been used to allow the acoustic coupling between the microphone sound inlet and the cover. table 5. resonance peak magnitude vs. materials mems cavity mems membrane gasket material resonance peak (db) silicon membrane sound-hard boundary 58.153088 silicon membrane iron gasket 22.064283 silicon membrane plastic gasket 21.99249 silicon membrane hard rubber gasket 21.136204 silicon membrane soft rubber gasket 14.517481 am17602v1 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 1000 10000 magnitude (db) frequency (hz) sound-hard boundaries (whole geometry) iron gasket (7870*5000) plasc gasket (1200*2500) hard rubber gasket (1520*150) so rubber gas ket (120*150)
docid025705 rev 1 15/19 AN4427 acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines 19 figure 11. example of tablet - design and acoustic cavity as previously stated, the acoustic simulation is performed on the geometry of the all of the components involved. figure 11 (b) represents the acoustic cavity to be simulated, extracted from the entire structure depicted in figure 11 (a). on the other hand, the acoustic properties of the materials must be set in the simulator to provide proper simulation results. the materials included in this simulation are those commonly adopted by the manufacturer of the electronic device; the printed circuit consis ts of fr4, the gasket is soft rubber and the cover is made of aluminum. the comsol ? tool has been used to study the effe ct of this geometry as well as the materials and the result is shown in the following figure. figure 12. frequency response figure 12 (a) shows the frequency response characterized by a resonance peak around 21600 hz; figure 12 (b) shows how the magnitude of the pressure, expressed in dbspl, is distributed inside the cavity. the pressure in side the cavity is plotted at the resonance frequency; this is the r eason why the maximum is exactly on the mems membrane. am17603v1 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 100 1000 10000 magnitude (db) resonance frequency @ 21600 hz (a): frequency responce (b): pressure @ 21600 hz f (hz)
acoustic gasket and sealing guidelines AN4427 16/19 docid025705 rev 1 this is a typical example of how the gasket can affect the frequency response of the microphone when is embedded in the final application. the gasket commonly introduces a resonance peak; its position as well as its in tensity depends on the design chosen by the user. where the final application must be char acterized by a flat frequency response, the gasket is a critical topic and it must be designed very carefully, but an equalized frequency response is needed. for example, the gasket can be helpful if an audio band range must be enhanced without using any equalization tool eith er analog or digital. in other words, a gasket can be a powerful factor in cases where the audio band must be equalized.
docid025705 rev 1 17/19 AN4427 bibliography 19 appendix a bibliography 1. comsol user guide version 3.5a 2. comsol modeling guide version 3.5a 3. comsol introduction to acoustics module 4. helmholtz resonance - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
revision history AN4427 18/19 docid025705 rev 1 2 revision history table 6. document revision history date revision changes 09-jan-2014 1 initial release
docid025705 rev 1 19/19 AN4427 19 please read carefully: information in this document is provided solely in connection with st products. stmicroelectronics nv and its subsidiaries (?st ?) reserve the right to make changes, corrections, modifications or improvements, to this document, and the products and services described he rein at any time, without notice. all st products are sold pursuant to st?s terms and conditions of sale. purchasers are solely responsible for the choice, selection and use of the st products and services described herein, and st as sumes no liability whatsoever relating to the choice, selection or use of the st products and services described herein. no license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property rights is granted under this document. i f any part of this document refers to any third party products or services it shall not be deemed a license grant by st for the use of such third party products or services, or any intellectual property contained therein or considered as a warranty covering the use in any manner whatsoev er of such third party products or services or any intellectual property contained therein. unless otherwise set forth in st?s terms and conditions of sale st disclaims any express or implied warranty with respect to the use and/or sale of st products including without limitation implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particul ar purpose (and their equivalents under the laws of any jurisdiction), or infringement of any patent, copyright or other intellectual property right. st products are not designed or authorized for use in: (a) safety critical applications such as life supporting, active implanted devices or systems with product functional safety requirements; (b) aeronautic applications; (c) automotive applications or environments, and/or (d) aerospace applications or environments. where st products are not designed for such use, the purchaser shall use products at purchaser?s sole risk, even if st has been informed in writing of such usage, unless a product is expressly designated by st as being intended for ? automotive, automotive safe ty or medical? industry domains according to st product design specifications. products formally escc, qml or jan qualified are deemed suitable for use in aerospace by the corresponding governmental agency. resale of st products with provisions different from the statements and/or technical features set forth in this document shall immediately void any warranty granted by st for the st product or service described herein and shall not create or extend in any manner whatsoev er, any liability of st. st and the st logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of st in various countries. information in this document supersedes and replaces all information previously supplied. the st logo is a registered trademark of stmicroelectronics. all other names are the property of their respective owners. ? 2014 stmicroelectronics - all rights reserved stmicroelectronics group of companies australia - belgium - brazil - canada - china - czech republic - finland - france - germany - hong kong - india - israel - ital y - japan - malaysia - malta - morocco - philippines - singapore - spain - sweden - switzerland - united kingdom - united states of america www.st.com

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