xMEMS demos tiny audio and cooling chips at CES to slim smart glasses

xMEMS demonstrated ultra-small audio and cooling MEMS chips at CES that the company says could enable much thinner, lighter smart glasses and other wearable devices by replacing traditional dynamic drivers and managing heat. The company showed its Cowell and Sycamore solid-state microspeakers.

Cowell, used as a tweeter, already appears in products such as the Soundpeats Air5 Pro+ and the Creative Aurvana Ace 3. Sycamore is a one-millimeter-thin chip that xMEMS says can entirely replace dynamic drivers; it is not yet in market products but is expected within the coming year.

According to xMEMS, Sycamore weighs 18 grams versus 42 grams for a dynamic driver. ZDNET's Jada Jones tested Sycamore in prototypes and reported that the chip produced very clear bass without the tactile air displacement of traditional drivers. xMEMS also offers Sycamore-N and Sycamore-W variants designed for smart glasses and smartwatches, respectively, each demanding about one millimeter of width.

The company also demonstrated a fan-on-a-chip micro-cooling solution for managing heat in headphones, smartphones and smart glasses. During the demo the xMEMS team showed a device surface temperature as high as 65 degrees Celsius falling to 36 degrees Celsius when the fan-on-a-chip was stacked near the processor, and Jones said she could not hear the airflow even at the highest setting.

Key Topics

Tech, Xmems, Sycamore Chip, Cowell Chip, Smart Glasses