Physicists from the United States created the miniature microphone on the Ground
American scientists have created a miniature recording device which is about 10 trillion times smaller than the human ear, but it is not inferior in sensitivity. The “recipe” for its Assembly was published in the journal Science Advances.
“Our nano-membranes not only possess very high sensitivity for their size and weight, but also consume very little energy and almost no «noise». In the end, they will allow us to create devices that work well both with a clear and strong signals, and at high noise level,” said Philip Feng (Philip Feng) from the University of Case Western Reserve in Cleveland (United States).
Almost all modern digital gadgets are composed of miniature microphones, accelerometers and pressure sensors whose dimensions are ten times smaller than the eardrums of humans and other living beings. Such devices, built on the basis of so-called microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), well enough to perceive the sound, but have low accuracy and sensitivity.
This prevents their further miniaturization and hinders their use in communication systems and in other devices where high sensitivity and stability. Feng and his colleagues have taken the first step to solve all these problems, turning the film of molybdenum disulfide, a promising semiconductor in the small and «flat» microphone in the world.
As discovered by the authors, «sandwich» such a special film and a silicon substrate covered with microscopic holes with a size of several hundred nanometers, similar in shape to the drums. If they are illuminated with a laser or passing a current through them, then the semiconductor film begins to oscillate with high frequency, very responsive to external vibrations, including sound.
These changes, in turn, can be considered, illuminating the hole by another laser or by attaching the electrodes to the molybdenum disulfide. As shown by the measurements Feng and his colleagues, like the electronic “eardrum” is not inferior to the sensitivity of the human ear, despite the fact that its area is only 8 square nanometers.
In addition to microphones, similar film and “drums” can be used for other purposes, the creation of ultrasensitive sensors of mass and pressure, able to work virtually “forever” with ultra-low power consumption.
On average, a microphone, created by a team of Feng, consuming only a few picowatt (10 to the minus 12 degrees watts) of energy that are orders of magnitude smaller than the typical appetite of the smallest and simple recording devices based on MEMS.
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