small microphone meets big microscope, will they be friends?

June 5, 2024 12:42 PM

A look inside a tiny MEMS microphone — the kind found in every earbud, phone, etc. — using optical and scanning electron microscopy. Youtube, 9m47s.
posted by Rhomboid (6 comments total)

The destruction at the five-minute mark was so shocking considering how clean and pretty it was under the SEM!
posted by mittens at 12:56 PM on June 5 [1 favorite]

I have crappy hearing; this is the technology in digital hearing aids, which are dramatically better than analog hearing aids, making is much more possible for me to communicate with people. Thanks for posting.

Also, scanning electron microscopes used to be hella rare and are now pretty available, and this is the sort of technology that drives innovation, yay.
posted by theora55 at 2:13 PM on June 5

deep reactive-ion etching, neat [wiki]
posted by HearHere at 2:21 PM on June 5

One of the pioneering companies in subminiature/MEMS microphones is Knowles Electronics. They've been around a long time but they got some help along the way...
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:32 PM on June 5 [1 favorite]

This is definitely one of those things that I have never, ever thought about and I'm glad that I saw this! We take these things for granted but it's truly amazing what we can do. It falls into the category of magic, in my opinion.

Thanks for the post!
posted by ashbury at 5:29 PM on June 5

Here's a Breaking Taps TY video where a MEMS 6 axis accelerometer (the ubiquitous MP-6050, or a clone) is studied under an electron microscope and then re-created in macro scale using a 3d printer to demonstrate the mechanical properties of the devices. It shows how each of the 6 axes (3 linear, 3 rotational) operates as a separate device, but all etched onto a single, flat wafer. It's mindbogglingly clever, and they're cranked out by the hundreds of millions for pennies a piece. I think it's one of the best engineering videos I've ever seen, bridging the wide gap between a picture of some microscopic features etched onto silicon and an actual physical, jiggly mechanical device. It also helps that I use this exact device for motion sensing in my electronics projects.
posted by WaylandSmith at 7:45 PM on June 5 [1 favorite]