In this paper a novel type of piezoelectric microelectromechanical loudspeaker is presented. The device concept is based on concentrically cascaded lead zirconate titanate actuators making it the first integrated two-way MEMS speaker reported. As a further novelty, the device is designed to operate without a closed membrane significantly improving the acoustic performance, energy efficiency, and manufacturability. Extensive finite element analysis studies have revealed a very high SPL of more than 79 dB in 10 cm distance at 500 Hz for a device 1 cm² in size operated at 30 V. At higher frequencies even larger SPL values are calculated enabling a flat frequency response with 89 dB for frequencies above 800 Hz. Based on this concept first speaker prototypes have been fabricated using MEMS technology.

Authors: Stoppel, Fabian; Niekiel, Florian; Giese, Thorsten; Gu-Stoppel, Shanshan; Männchen, Andreas; Nowak, Johannes; Beer, Daniel; Wagner, Bernhard
Affiliations: Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology ISIT, Itzehoe, Germany; Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT, Ilmenau, Germany(See document for exact affiliation information.)
AES Convention: 143 (October 2017) Paper Number: 9874
Publication Date: October 8, 2017
Subject: Transducers

Click to purchase paper as a non-member or you can login as an AES member to see more options.

No AES members have commented on this paper yet.

Subscribe to this discussion

To be notified of new comments on this paper you can subscribe to this RSS feed. Forum users should login to see additional options.

Start a discussion!

If you would like to start a discussion about this paper and are an AES member then you can login here:
Username:
Password:

If you are not yet an AES member and have something important to say about this paper then we urge you to join the AES today and make your voice heard. You can join online today by clicking here.