MEMS microphone and method of manufacture

1. A MEMS microphone comprising:

a substrate;

a shield layer;

a central insulation layer; and

a membrane,

wherein the substrate has an upper surface with a first opening therein,

wherein the shield layer is arranged between the upper surface of the substrate and the membrane, the shield layer having a second opening,

wherein the central insulation layer is arranged between the shield layer and the membrane, the shield layer comprising:

a dielectric bulk material having a third opening, and

an etch stopper forming an edge of the central insulation layer towards the third opening such that the dielectric bulk material of the central insulation layer is completely enclosed between the shield layer, the etch stopper and the membrane, and

wherein all openings are arranged one above another to form a common sound channel to the membrane.

2. The MEMS microphone according to claim 1 ,

wherein a lower insulation layer is arranged between the upper surface of the substrate and the shield layer, and

wherein a material of the lower insulation layer is silicon oxide.

3. The MEMS microphone according to claim 1 , wherein the etch stopper forms a lower membrane suspension.

4. The MEMS microphone according to claim 1 , wherein the etch stopper consists essentially of a material with a lower etching rate than the dielectric bulk material of the central insulation layer between the shield layer and the membrane.

5. The MEMS microphone according to claim 1 , wherein the etch stopper consists essentially of a material with a higher tensile strength than the dielectric bulk material of the central insulation layer.

6. The MEMS microphone according to claim 1 , wherein the etch stopper consist essentially of a low stress silicon nitride and the dielectric bulk material of the central insulation layer is silicon oxide.

7. The MEMS microphone according to claim 1 , wherein the shield layer consists essentially of a material with lower etching rate than a substrate material.

8. The MEMS microphone according to claim 2 , wherein the shield layer consist essentially of a material with lower etching rate than a substrate material and the silicon oxide.

9. The MEMS microphone according to claim 1 ,

wherein the shield layer consist essentially of a material chosen from highly doped poly-Si, undoped poly-Si, porous silicon, or low stress silicon nitride, and

wherein a substrate material is Si.

10. The MEMS microphone according to claim 1 ,

wherein the membrane comprises a horizontally layered structure,

wherein the horizontally layered structure comprises an electrically conducting membrane core layer,

wherein two outer layers below and above the membrane core layer sandwich the membrane core layer, and

wherein the outer layers consists essentially of a dielectric material with a higher tensile strength than the membrane core layer.

11. The MEMS microphone according to claim 10 ,

wherein the electrically conducting membrane core layer consists essentially of highly doped poly-Si, and

wherein the outer layers of the membrane consist essentially of a low stress silicon nitride.

12. The MEMS microphone according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a back plate arranged above the membrane; and

an upper insulation layer arranged between the membrane and the back plate,

wherein the upper insulation layer comprises a fourth opening that continues the sound channel above the membrane, and

wherein the upper insulation layer consists essentially of silicon oxide.

13. The MEMS microphone according to claim 12 ,

wherein the back plate comprises a trench,

wherein a trench bottom is a lowest-lying part of the trench,

wherein the back plate is in direct contact with the membrane at the trench bottom, and

wherein the trench horizontally frames the fourth opening of the upper insulation layer such that the upper insulation layer is completely enclosed by the membrane, the back plate and the trench in the back plate.

14. A method for manufacturing a MEMS microphone, the method comprising:

forming on an upper surface of a substrate the following layers one upon another: a continuous lower insulation layer, a shield layer comprising a circular opening, and a central insulation layer comprising a ring-shaped trench that exposes the shield layer at a bottom of the trench;

depositing on top of the central insulation layer comprising the ring-shaped trench a lower dielectric outer layer of a membrane thereby also forming an etch stopper in the trench of the central insulation layer;

forming a lithographically patterned electrically conducting membrane core layer, and an upper dielectric outer layer of the membrane;

forming an upper patterned insulation layer on top of the membrane;

forming on top of upper patterned insulation layer a back plate from a single layer or from a plurality of partial layers; and

etching a sound channel comprising first etching the substrate by deep reactive-ion etching, and subsequently etching the insulation layers by isotropic wet etching, wherein an extent of the etching in the central insulation layer is defined by the shield layer and the etch stopper.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein a surface of the non-continuous central insulation layer is planarized by chemical-mechanical polishing before depositing the lower dielectric outer layer of the membrane.

16. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the membrane is patterned to comprise venting holes before forming the upper patterned insulation layer on top of the membrane.

17. The method according to claim 14 ,

wherein the upper patterned insulation layer comprises a circular trench, which partly exposes the upper dielectric outer layer of the membrane,

wherein, on the upper patterned insulation layer comprising the circular trench the following layers of the back plate are formed one upon another, a lower dielectric outer layer of the back plate, a lithographically patterned electrically conducting back plate core layer, and an upper dielectric outer layer of the back plate, and

wherein assembled layers of the back plate are patterned before etching the sound channel.