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Modeling and characterization of a micromachined artificial hair cell vector hydrophone

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Abstract

In the paper, a micromachined artificial vector hydrophone arises from a biological inspiration, the fish hair cell is presented. It is desirable that the application of piezoresistive effects combined with ingenious bionic structure and MEMS technology may improve the low-frequency sensitivity of the vector hydrophone as well as its miniaturization. Modeling processes for realizing the artificial hair cell hydrophone, along with preliminary characterization results in terms of sensitivity, frequency response and directivity patterns are also introduced. The microstructure of the sensor consists of four vertical cantilever beams with attached rigid plastic cylinder in the center of the structure. By locating eight piezoresistors logically formed the Wheatstone bridges; they can detect two components of underwater acoustic signal simultaneously. The prepared vector hydrophone has been measured in the standing wave field finally. The experiment results show that the vector hydrophone has good low-frequency characteristic, the free-field voltage sensitivity is −197.2 dB (0 dB = 1 V/μPa) at 400 Hz with a about 2 dB one-third octave positive slope over the 40–400 Hz bandwidth. The depth of pits of the directivity pattern is about 34.6 dB.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50405025, 50535030) and Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University of China (NCET).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Instrumentation Science and Dynamic Measurement, Ministry of Education. Department of Electronic Science and Technology, North University of China, Taiyuan, Shanxi, 030051, China

    Binzhen Zhang, Hui Qiao & Shang Chen

  2. National Key Laboratory for Electronic Measurement Technology, North University of China, Shanxi, China

    Wendong Zhang, Jijun Xiong, Chenyang Xue & Guojun Zhang

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Jun Liu

Authors
  1. Binzhen Zhang
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  2. Hui Qiao
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  3. Shang Chen
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  4. Jun Liu
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  5. Wendong Zhang
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  6. Jijun Xiong
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  7. Chenyang Xue
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  8. Guojun Zhang
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Correspondence to Hui Qiao.

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Zhang, B., Qiao, H., Chen, S. et al. Modeling and characterization of a micromachined artificial hair cell vector hydrophone. Microsyst Technol 14, 821–828 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-008-0560-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-008-0560-0

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