J. Acoust. Soc. Jpn.

(E) 18, 1 (1997)

Long-term sensitivity changes in electret

condenser microphones

Kenzo Miura* and Yoshinobu Yasuno**

*Quality Management Department , Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd.,
600, Saedo-cho, Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama, 224 Japan
**Audio Video Systems Division, Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd.,
600, Saedo-cho, Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama, 224 Japan

(Received 25 January 1996)

We conducted studies regarding sensitivity changes of Electret Condenser Microphones

(ECMs) that were stored in a laboratory for 18 years, and using the results, estimated the
working lifetime of an ECM. The average sensitivity change of the ECMs stored at room
temperature for 18 years was unexpectedly small-only about 0.3dB. We estimated the
main factor that determines the lifetime of an ECM-surface charge decreases of electret foil
-over a period of time, using a heat acceleration test and the results of our long-term
sensitivity change studies. The results of our estimate showed that a sensitivity decrease of
3dB in ECMs stored at room temperature may be found in 60 years, and a 6 dB decrease,
which is the limit of microphone performance, may be found after 200 years. In this paper,
we propose a form of expression for the decrease pattern of electret surface charges, over a
period of time, and temperature as a three dimensional form.

Keywords: Electret, Microphone, Lifetime, Acceleration test, Environmental test

PACS number: 43. 38. Bs

using acceleration tests.

I. INTRODUCTION
Electret Condenser Microphones (ECMs) are cur-
rently used in many fields telephone sets, cellular
phones, audio sets, and others.' The lifetime of an
ECM has been a problem of serious concern.2) The
workable lifetime of an ECM, which depend upon a
sensitivity decrease, is considered to be controlled by
electret surface charge decay. Twenty-five years
have passed since our factory began its initial pro-
duction of ECMs.1) To date, total ECM produc-
tion amounts to more than 1.5 billion pcs, which
may prove that the lifetime of the ECMs on the
market is considerably long. For this paper, we
studied the levels of sensitivity changes that will
occur over a long term storage period at room tem-
perature. The sensitivity of ECMs produced 18
years ago were examined,3) and from the results, the
effective workable lifetime of ECMs was estimated
As factors concerning sensitivity changes in an
ECM, we estimated the surface charge decay and
studied modifications in ECM construction.
2. EVALUATION OF SENSITIVITY
CHANGES
2.1 Sensitivity Changes during Long-term Storage
at Room Temperature
We measured the sensitivity changes of ECMs that
have been preserved in a laboratory at room temper-
ature, since they were produced at our factory in
April, 1977.
These ECMs use as diaphragms thin electret foils
that are made from Fluoroethylene-propylene
(FEP) and are charged by the corona method. A
cross-section of an ECM is shown in Fig. 1. The
ECMs that were tested had already been classified
into 4 groups determined by the initial sensitivity

29
 J. Acoust. Soc. Jpn.(E) 18, 1 (1997)

ity after 18 years is about an 0.3 dB decrease com-

pared to the initial level.

Using these results as a reference, it can be deter-

mined that sensitivity changes in ECMs stored at

room temperature for 18 years are very small. That

is to say, every line on symbol marker is almost flat

and parallel with the other. We could find hardly

any significance in the sensitivity changes, even over

periods of 14 and 18 years.

2.2 Sensitivity Changes after Environmental Tests

Fig. 1 Schematic cross-section of the ECM. ECMs that were tested in environments of high

temperature and humidity soon after production,

were also stored at a laboratory for 18 years. We

studied how sensitivity changes in these ECMs will

appear after long-term storage at room temperature,

as well.

First they were exposed to a high temperature

(70•Ž) environment for 1,000 hours. We checked

the sensitivity at 300 hours, and 1,000 hours, respec-

tively, after the start of the environmental test. The

ECMs used for the test were the same type as those

stored at room temperature, and the samples for

testing consisted of 10 pcs. The sensitivities of the

ECMs tested were measured 3 days after being taken

out of the oven. The trends of average change in

Fig. 2 Average sensitivity changes in each sensitivity compared with the initial level, and the

group and group totals. standard deviations are shown in Fig. 3. It was

discovered from these results that the average sensi-

levels at the time of production. tivity change immediately after the 1,000 hour test

The initial sensitivity of 4 groups (each group was about -2dB, and rather minimal, even after

having 10 sample pcs.) are as follows: the high temperature test.

-37 •}1dB,-39•}1dB,-41•}1dB, The average change of sensitivity 18 years later

-43 •}1dB,(0dB=1V/Pa)

Sensitivity changes in these ECMs were measured at

around 14 and 18 years, respectively, after produc-

tion.

From the results of our sensitivity measurements,

the average change in each group from the initial

levels of sensitivity are shown in Fig. 2. In Fig. 2,

the average sensitivity level of each group is illus-

trated by symbol markers.

The sensitivity changes of all four groups are

within•}0.5dB at both the 14 and 18 year points of

time. The standard deviation + s are shown on the

symbol markers for each group.

On every symbol marker, differences of changes in

sensitivity are minimal regardless of the initial sensi- Fig. 3 Sensitivity changes over 18 years after

tivity levels due to the charge deviations. Among environmental tests of 70•Ž, and 60•Ž, 95%

all four groups, the total average change in sensitiv- R.H.

30
 K. MIURA and Y. YASUNO: LONG-TERM SENSITIVITY CHANGES IN ECMS

was a decrease of 0.5 dB, and s was 0.6 dB. These

values are almost the same as those of ECMs stored

long-term at room temperature.

The average change of sensitivity after 18 years

almost recovered, by 1.5dB, to near the initial levels.

The sensitivities after the environmental test were

not measured until 18 years later, except for the

measurements taken just after the test, therefore, we

could not determine exactly when the sensitivity

recovered to near that of the initial levels. Fig. 4 A simplified, enlarged schematic con-
In the same manner as the above cited case, the struction of the ECM.

ECMs were tested in a high temperature, high

humidity (60•Ž, 95%R.H.) environment, immediate- is shown in Fig. 4. In Fig. 4, d0 and d1 show the
ly following production. These ECMs were also thickness of the air-gap and the membrane. 80 and
stored in the laboratory for 18 years after the envi- el are dielectric permittivity of air and the electret
ronmental test. The samples tested consisted of 10 membrane material. 4- is the vibration displace-
pcs., and were the same types of ECM as the above. ment of the membrane caused by sound pressure.
The average change in sensitivity compared to the A resistor R, is connected between the metal layer
initial level is also shown in Fig. 3. and the backplate. The output voltage e, is gener-
From these results, it can be seen that the sensitiv- ated across the resistor R, in proportion to the
ity levels just after the test, decreased about 1.5 dB at vibration of the membrane by sound pressure.
one point, but after being left for 18 years at room The output voltage e can be expressed by the
temperature, sensitivity changes registered a mere 0.1 following equation.6)
dB decrease, and recovered 1.4 dB, almost returning

to the initial levels. In both tests, the increases of

(1)
average sensitivity over 18 years from the end of the

tests were about 1.5dB. On the opposite side, the average vibration displace-
ment of a circular membrane is explained below
3. STUDY OF SENSITIVITY CHANGES
using a volumetric displacement N.7)
3.1 Sensitivity Changes after Environmental Tests

Sensitivity changes in ECMs left at room tempera-

(2)
ture over a long-term following environmental tests

almost recovered their initial sensitivity levels. where,

We can not consider that the surface charge on

electret foil will recover over a period of time,

because the surface charge on FEP foil consists of a

F=pS
space-charge due to the trapped homo-charge,2) and
p: sound pressure
once the homo-charge migrates, it will not be sup-
S: area of diaphragm
plemented. It may be also explained that the rea-
a: radius of diaphragm
son the sensitivity decrease occurred a short time
am: characteristic root
after the high temperature test, was due to some

charge decay-about -1.3dB at 300h, and -2.0 ωm: angular frequency in characteristic root

dB at 1,000h. In the high temperature and high ρs : area density of diaphragm

humidity test, sensitivity was lowered due to charge Assuming a flat moving diaphragm has the same
decay, by about -0.4dB at 300h, and -1.5dB at area as the actual membrane, the displacement Ā0
1,000h. will be shown as follows:

3.2 Sensitivity Changes Due to Structural

Modifications

The simplified, enlarged construction of the ECM (3)

31
 J. Acoust. Soc. Jpn.(E) 18, 1 (1997)

and here,

Ts: Tension of diaphragm membrane

Since the frequency response of an ECM is

controlled by the vibration stiffness of the mem-

brane, the sensitivity of an ECM is indicated by the

Fig. 5 Charge decay characteristics in high
output level at ą=0. Thus, Ā0 will be shown as;
temperature environments.

(4)
ture.

Consequently, the output voltage e is shown as Seventeen samples of electret diaphragm were

below: used for the test, at four temperature points. The

temperature levels for the test were 80•Ž, 100•Ž,

(5) 120•Ž, and 150•Ž, respectively.

The electret surface potential on the diaphragms

Therefore, the sensitivity is shown as follows: was measured with a vibration electrode type instru-

ment. Measurements were taken at adequate points

(6) of time at room temperature, soon after being taken

out of the oven.

From Eq.(6) it can be seen that the sensitivity is Changes of surface potential from their initial

values were shown with dB levels the same as the

proportional to the charge volume o, and inversely
decay in microphone sensitivity. The data concern-
proportional to the tension Ts, of the membrane.
It is recognized that the tension of the electret foil ing charge decay at each temperature level and at

of an ECM which was stretched and stuck on a ring, certain times were plotted as shown in Fig. 5. The

will be loosened by the creeping of the FEP foil sensitivity decreases due to environmental tests, 70•Ž

itself.8) However, the actual quantity of the creep- and 60•Ž, 95% R.H. for 300h, and 1,000h each that

ing could not be surveyed precisely as a change of were derived from Fig. 3, are also plotted with

fundamental resonance frequency, because the square marks together in Fig. 5. These points

change in frequency was small, and its peak was not plotted in Fig. 5 fit the parallel curves in each tem-

clear. It may be assumed that sensitivity increases perature.

during the 18 years after production are caused by The charge decay characteristic curves in each

the loosening of the tension of the electret foil due to temperature show as large decay for the diaphragms

the creeping that occurs during long-term storage. kept at a high temperature, and small levels of decay

The sensitivity increasing by 1.5dB corresponds to a for the diaphragms kept at a low temperature. In

16% decrease of tension on the diaphragm mem- the large charge decay area that exceeds -3dB,

brane. decay characteristics of about 4dB per decade are

shown in Fig. 5.
4. ESTIMATION OF CHARGE DECAY From the results shown in Fig. 5, the microphone

4.1 The Estimation of Charge on an Electret sensitivity change due to charge decay 18 years after

Diaphragm initial production, will be plotted close to the 0 dB

The sensitivity changes of an ECM are caused line on the broken line of room temperatures.

mainly by charge decay on the electret foil, or by According to the empirical formula by Arrhenius,

changes of tension on the diaphragm membrane. reaction speed K can be expressed by;

Here, we studied charge decay on the electret dia- (7)

phragm using an acceleration test at a high tempera-

32
 K. MIURA and Y. YASUNO: LONG-TERM SENSITIVITY CHANGES IN ECMS

where •È is constant, •ÞE is activation energy, K is decay values in dB. On the other hand, judging

Boltzmann's constant, and T is the absolute from the results of sensitivity changes at room tem-

temperature.4) perature shown in Fig. 2, the point of change over

If a is constant, then the lifetime (L) will be 18 years at room temperature is about -0.3dB in

expressed by microphone sensitivity. However, this value also

includes the charge decay and looseness of the dia-

phragm due to creeping of the electret foil. From

(8) the results of the high temperature test, the increase

Eq. (8) will be shown with In as follows, value is about 1.5dB. Assuming sensitivity is

increasing due to the looseness of the diaphragm, the

charge decay value over 18 years may be considered

(9) to be -1.8dB. Consequently, this point will be

where, plotted at 18 years on the line of room temperature

in Fig. 6. Therefore, a -1.8dB equi-charge decay

line can be drawn widely from 120•Ž to the room

Eq. (9) shows that the lifetime of the electret temperature as shown in the solid line.

charge (ln L) is linearly proportional to the inverse According to the slope of that solid line, other

temperature 1/T. Therefore, a straight line will be equi-charge decay lines may be drawn in parallel

drawn showing the relation between ln L), and 1/ with this solid line as shown in Fig. 6. These lines

T on a graph. Concerning this relation, the results connecting equi-charge decay points on the tem-

of acceleration tests were plotted on a graph as peratures at certain time periods, can be extended to
shown in Fig. 6, together with the plotting by envi- the vertical line indicating room temperature.

ronmental tests mentioned above. The numbers When the -3dB charge decay line is extended to the

described near each plotted point show the charge room temperature, it will meet at about 60 years,

and the -6dB line, which may be considered as the

limit of performance in microphone sensitivity, will

meet after more than 200 years.

From these results, the electret charge may be

Fig. 6 Estimation of ECM sensitivity using

heating tests with data of 18 years ECM stor- Fig. 7 Charge decay characteristics related to
age at room temperature. temperature and time.

33
 J. Acoust. Soc. Jpn. (E) 18, 1 (1997)

Fig. 8 Three dimensional expression of the relation between temperature, time and charge decay.

retained as long, and in the same order, as those charge decay itself on electret membranes, even after
values-100 years-reported already.5) 18 years, has been found to be less than 2 dB.
From Fig. 6, moreover, we can see that the plot-
5. CONCLUSIONS
ting with square marks of high temperature tests are
fitting on the equi-charge decay lines.Therefore, it During the process of developing the ECM, the
was found that the sensitivity decay in high tempera- lifetime of the product has been the most significant
ture tests made right after the test, was due to charge concern. In this paper, sensitivity changes over a
decay. period of time which may determine the lifetime of
an ECM have been studied, and we were able to
4.2 The Relations of Charge Decay and Other estimate the effective lifetime of the ECM.
Factors It was discovered from the results of sensitivity
Figure 6, which shows the relationship between changes after an 18 year period of storage at room
storage temperature and storage time, and charge temperature, the sensitivity decrease due to charge
decay, will be varied to different forms as in Fig. 7, decay, is-1.8 dB, and the increase, due to the ten-
with inverted scaling T/103 on a temperature axis. sion looseness of the diaphragm, is 1.5 dB.
The characteristics in Fig. 7 are similar to those in We estimated the amount of charge decay on
Fig. 6, but the group of straight lines in Fig. 6 are electret foil using a heat acceleration test. On the
expressed using the group of curved lines in Fig. 7. chart plotted after this test, we indicated the levels of
As Fig. 5 shows the charge decay according to the charge decay at room temperature over stages, dur-
lapse of time when the environmental temperature is ing the 18 years of storage. By drawing an
constant, the relationship between storage tempera- extrapolate line of equi-charge decay at room tem-
ture, lapse of time, and charge decay will be express- perature, we estimated that it takes about 60 years to
ed using a three dimensional expression as in Fig. 8, register-3 dB of charge decay, and around 200
by combining two graphs, Fig. 5 and Fig. 7. years to see a-6 dB level of charge decay.
In Fig. 8, due to the increasing direction of the The total sensitivity change of an ECM displays a
temperature axis, and the direction of the lapse of value that cancels the charge decay with the tension
time, charge decay shows a tendency to decrease. looseness of the diaphragm, and we found that the
The charge decay form using a three dimensional sensitivity change of an ECM is 0.3 dB when left at
expression will be changed with the electret mate- room temperature for an 18 year period.
rials used for membranes. Regarding market information concerning the
From these figures Fig. 5 and Fig. 8, the average quality of ECMs, although production amounts to

34
 K. MIURA and Y. YASUNO: LONG-TERM SENSITIVITY CHANGES IN ECMS

date equal 1.5 billion ECM units, claims of sensitiv- Tokyo, 1962), Chap. 5, p. 300 (in Japanese).
ity decay have been very few Judging from this, it 8) Product specifications from the catalog "Neo-Flon
FEP" (Daikin Ind. Co., Ltd., Osaka, 1990) (in
can be said that the estimated sensitivity changes of
Japanese).
ECMs over the long-term have no effect on efficiency
of operation. Kenzo Miura was born in Nagano
A more precise analysis regarding structural in 1936. He received a B.E. degree
modifications to ECMs for the long-term, will be a from Tohoku Univeristy in 1962. He
problem of concern during the next stage of our joined Matsushita Electric Industrial
Co., Ltd. in 1962, and worked in Matsu-
studies.
shita Communication Industrial Co.,
REFERENCES Ltd. in the same year. Since then, he
has been engaged in research and devel-
1) Y. Yasuno and Y. Riko, "A chronological review of opment of electro-acoustic transducers ; microphones,
production and applications of electret condenser receivers, and vibration transducers. He also engaged in
microphone for consumer use," 8th Int. Symp. on the development of cordless-telephone and evaluations of
Electrets, ESPCI Paris (1994). speech quality in cordless-telephones. Since April 1996,
2) As an example, he belongs to Matsushita Communication Engineering Co.,
G. M. Sessler and J. E. West, "Foil electrets and their Ltd. He is a member of the Acoustical Society of Japan
use in condenser microphones," J. Electrochem. Soc.; and the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communi-
Solid-State Sci. 115, 836-840 (1968). cation Engineers.
3) K. Miura and Y. Yasuno, "On the estimation of
long-term sensitivity change of electret condenser Yoshinobu Yasuno was received the
microphone," in Proc. 15th Int. Congr. Acoust., Vol. B.S. degree in applied electronics engi-
4, 237-240, Trondheim Norway (1995). neering from the University of Electro-
4) N. Takagi and H. Shiomi, Reliability Technique Communications, Tokyo, Japan, in
―Test ＆ Analysis (Tokyo Denki University, Tokyo, 1973. In 1973, he joined the Matsu-
1972) (in Japanese). shita Communication Industrial Co.,
5) G. M. Sessler and J. E. West, "Foil-electret micro- Ltd., Yokohama, Japan, where he has
phones," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 40, 1433-1440 (1966). been working on the development of
6) G. M. Sessler, "Electrostatic microphones with microphones. He is now a manager of the Miocrophone
electret foil," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 35, 1354-1357 Development Section of the Audio Video Systems division
(1963). of this company. Mr. Yasuno is a member of the Institute
7) T. Hayasaka, Acoustic Engineering (Nikkan Kogyo, of Electrical Engineers of Japan.

35