Silicon microphone team-up

Passive Components

Capacitor suppliers

Inductor & transformer suppliers

Potentiometer suppliers

Resistor suppliers

RF passive component suppliers

printer friendly version

28 November 2007 Passive Components

Infineon and Hosiden, a global microphone manufacturer, have announced cooperation on silicon microphones activities. Infineon contributes its semiconductor expertise and MEMS (micro electro-mechanical systems) knowledge to develop and produce silicon microphones that are significantly smaller and more rugged than current microphones while Hosiden adds its competence in supporting Infineon with electro-mechanics and acoustics, application knowledge for successful integration into devices as well as with Hosiden's market expertise.

"Our vision and goal is to form a strong alliance with Hosiden," said Peter Schiefer, vice president and general manager of the Discrete Semiconductors business unit for the Automotive, Industrial and Multimarket business group at Infineon Technologies. "We combine the strengths of two technologically leading companies to jointly develop a family of silicon microphones. These will have smaller package sizes than today's solutions, enable high-end acoustics for better sound quality and provide digital interfaces for reduced interference."

The Infineon silicon microphone is claimed to be more rugged and more immune to RF and shocks compared to classical microphones, as well as to exhibit higher heat resistance, withstanding temperatures of up to 260°C. Due to the high temperature-resistance, it can be soldered without any loss in sensitivity onto a standard PCB and is ideally suited for use on fully automated production lines.

A Hosiden spokesman said, "By combining Hosiden's acoustic strengths with Infineon's silicon MEMS and ASIC expertise, we can ensure that our customers get application-optimised, high quality products earlier in their design cycle, combined with a very high level of customer support from both companies. Our customers ask for the best microphone portfolio, keeping good acoustic properties, challenging to miniaturise and matching auto-assembly production. With the Infineon partnership, we can close our portfolio gap and offer the best solution for the customer, independent of the various technologies."

Share this article:

Categories

Passive Components

Silicon microphone team-up

Further reading:

Publications by Technews