NOVELTY - The transducer has a membrane electrode coupled to a flexible membrane (301). A back-plate (304) comprises a back-plate layer coupled to a back-plate electrode (303), where holes (314) in the back-plate electrode correspond to back-plate holes (312) through the back-plate. The membrane electrode comprises an opening (313), where an area of the opening corresponds to an area of one of the back-plate holes along direction normal to the flexible membrane, and no hole is provided in the flexible membrane at the opening in the membrane electrode.    USE - MEMS transducer e.g. capacitive transducer such as MEMS capacitive microphone, for use in an audio device e.g. battery powered device and portable communication or computing device such as audio player, video player, gaming device, mobile telephone, laptop, notebook and tablet computer (all claimed). Can also be used for a pressure sensor, ultrasonic transducer, acceleration monitoring device, signal generation transducer, analog microphone and a digital microphone for a PDA, personal computer, voice activated or voice controlled device, medical application i.e. hearing aid, industrial application i.e. active noise cancellation device, and an automotive application e.g. hands-free set and acoustic crash sensor.    ADVANTAGE - The opening reduces the amount of electrode material which is placed on the membrane and increases proportion of membrane material to electrode material compared to the electrode without the opening, so that a membrane structure has reduced plastic deformation, thus improving operation of the transducer. The transducer ensures that the membrane electrode material is generally provided in areas in which a linear field component is present and generally omitted in areas in which no linear field component is present so as to significantly reduce amount of the membrane electrode material provided on the membrane without significant decrease in capacitance.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are also included for the following:    (1) a package for housing a micro-electrical-mechanical system (MEMS) transducer    (2) a method for fabricating a MEMS transducer.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing shows a schematic view of openings in a membrane electrode.    Flexible membrane (301)    Back-plate electrode (303)    Back-plate (304)    Back-plate holes (312)    Opening (313)    Holes in back-plate electrode (314)