A microelectromechanical system microphone includes a piezoelectric diaphragm, upper inner electrodes and upper outer electrodes disposed on an upper surface of the diaphragm, and lower inner electrodes and lower outer electrodes disposed on a lower surface of the diaphragm. The diaphragm is divided into a plurality of sectors, a first of the sectors including an inner and an outer upper electrode physically disconnected from an inner and an outer upper electrode on a second sector adjacent to the first sector, and an inner and an outer lower electrode physically disconnected from an inner and an outer lower electrode on the second sector. A first via extends between and electrically couples the upper and lower inner electrodes of the first sector and a first bond pad. A second via extends between and electrically couples the upper and lower outer electrodes of the second sector and a second bond pad.

The piezoelectric microphone chip includes a single thin plate, a diaphragm support structure that is provided on one surface of the thin plate and includes an outer edge support portion that supports an outer edge of the thin plate and a separation support portion that separates the thin plate into a plurality of diaphragms in association with the outer edge support portion, a single or a plurality of piezoelectric conversion portions formed by laminating a first electrode, a piezoelectric film, and a second electrode sequentially from a diaphragm side on each of the diaphragms, and a signal detection circuit that detects outputs from the piezoelectric conversion portions provided on the plurality of diaphragms, and a relationship among a thickness t.sub.1 of the outer edge support portion, a thickness t.sub.2 of the separation support portion, and a thickness td of the thin plate 10 is set to 13.3×td<t.sub.2<t.sub.1−20 μm.

The piezoelectric microphone chip includes a single thin plate, a diaphragm support structure that is provided on one surface of the thin plate and includes an outer edge support portion that supports an outer edge of the thin plate and a separation support portion that separates the thin plate into a plurality of diaphragms in association with the outer edge support portion, a single or a plurality of piezoelectric conversion portions formed by laminating a first electrode, a piezoelectric film, and a second electrode sequentially from a diaphragm side on each of the diaphragms, and a signal detection circuit that detects outputs from the piezoelectric conversion portions provided on the plurality of diaphragms, and a relationship among a thickness t.sub.1 of the outer edge support portion, a thickness t.sub.2 of the separation support portion, and a thickness td of the thin plate 10 is set to 13.3×td<t.sub.2<t.sub.1−20 μm.

A piezoelectric microelectromechanical system microphone comprises a support substrate, a diaphragm including a piezoelectric material attached to the support substrate and configured to deform and generate an electrical potential responsive to impingement of sound waves on the diaphragm, and a compliant anchor formed of a material with a greater compliance than a compliance of the piezoelectric material, the compliant anchor defined in the diaphragm in an anchor region between the piezoelectric material of the diaphragm and the support substrate to improve sensitivity and reduce residual stress impact of the piezoelectric microelectromechanical system microphone.

A piezoelectric microelectromechanical system microphone comprises a support substrate, a diaphragm including a piezoelectric material attached to the support substrate and configured to deform and generate an electrical potential responsive to impingement of sound waves on the diaphragm, and a compliant anchor formed of a material with a greater compliance than a compliance of the piezoelectric material, the compliant anchor defined in the diaphragm in an anchor region between the piezoelectric material of the diaphragm and the support substrate to improve sensitivity and reduce residual stress impact of the piezoelectric microelectromechanical system microphone.

A method of making a piezoelectric sensor includes forming piezoelectric layer(s) to define a beam extending between a proximal portion and a distal end. The method also includes modeling a strain distribution on the beam based on a force applied to the beam, and defining an outer boundary with a shape substantially corresponding to a contour line of the strain distribution on the beam. The method also includes forming an electrode having said outer boundary shape, and attaching the electrode to the beam. The method also includes attaching the beam to a substrate in cantilever form so that the proximal portion of the beam is anchored to the substrate and the distal end of the beam is unsupported.

This disclosure describes a ceiling tile microphone system that includes a plurality of microphones coupled together as a microphone array and used for beamforming processing, one or more separate processing devices that couple to the microphone array, where one or more separate processing devices further include beamforming, acoustic echo cancellation, and adaptive acoustic processing; a single ceiling tile with an outer surface on the front side of the ceiling tile where the outer surface is acoustically transparent, the microphone array combines with the ceiling tile as a single unit, the ceiling tile being mountable in a drop ceiling in place of a ceiling tile included in the drop ceiling; where the system is used in a drop ceiling mounting configuration; where the microphone array couples to the back side of the ceiling tile and all or part of the system is in the drop space of the drop ceiling.

This disclosure describes a ceiling tile microphone system that includes a plurality of microphones coupled together as a microphone array and used for beamforming processing, one or more separate processing devices that couple to the microphone array, where one or more separate processing devices further include beamforming, acoustic echo cancellation, and adaptive acoustic processing; a single ceiling tile with an outer surface on the front side of the ceiling tile where the outer surface is acoustically transparent, the microphone array combines with the ceiling tile as a single unit, the ceiling tile being mountable in a drop ceiling in place of a ceiling tile included in the drop ceiling; where the system is used in a drop ceiling mounting configuration; where the microphone array couples to the back side of the ceiling tile and all or part of the system is in the drop space of the drop ceiling.

The present disclosure relates generally to providing a flexible patch and system for communicating through hard plastic masks such as CPAP/BiPAP® masks. Using electronic circuitry and novel designs, the present systems and methods can detect speech vibrations and output audible speech from hard plastic mask wearers. For example, in certain embodiments, the present systems and methods can recognize speech through a CPAP/BiPAP® mask, filter out non-human voice related noise, and output the resulting speech of the mask wearer.

The present disclosure relates generally to providing a flexible patch and system for communicating through hard plastic masks such as CPAP/BiPAP® masks. Using electronic circuitry and novel designs, the present systems and methods can detect speech vibrations and output audible speech from hard plastic mask wearers. For example, in certain embodiments, the present systems and methods can recognize speech through a CPAP/BiPAP® mask, filter out non-human voice related noise, and output the resulting speech of the mask wearer.