Advances in MEMS Hydrophone Technology
Ming Liu, Lin Zhang, Weijie Qu, Lianglong Da, Tong Liu
Abstract
MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) hydrophone has the advantages of low cost, low power consumption and miniaturization, which has rapid development and wide application in acoustic detection. The complexity of the marine environment and the development of underwater equipment have put forward higher requirements for the performance of MEMS hydrophones. However, the sensor performance of MEMS hydrophones are affected by many factors, such as structure, principle and MEMS processing technology. In order to improve the sensitivity and bandwidth of MEMS hydrophones, many novel MEMS hydrophones with new principles, new structures and new materials have been proposed. In this paper, according to the principle used, MEMS hydrophones are divided into optical MEMS hydrophones, electrical MEMS hydrophones and thermal MEMS hydrophones. The basic working principles of different MEMS hydrophones are summarized, and the characteristics of MEMS hydrophones with different principles are analyzed. Furthermore, the advantages and disadvantages of different materials and structures are compared by the tested performance parameters. This study contributes by systematically reviewing the development process of three types of MEMS hydrophones, especially the development and improvement of piezoresistive, hot-wire and interferometric MEMS hydrophones, including the research hotspots and latest progress. Finally, the characteristics of MEMS hydrophone development are summarized, the existing problems are discussed, and the future development trend is prospected.