Download or read book Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers with Substrate embedded Springs written by Byung Chul Lee and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the first capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) was invented in 1994, it became one of the candidate technologies to advance the state-of-the-art of medical ultrasound imaging. Benefiting from its fabrication technique based on the semiconductor industry, CMUT technology has broadened the medical and therapeutic applications such as real-time volumetric ultrasound imaging, catheter-based forward-looking intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), photoacoustic imaging, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and so on. In spite of many advantages, however, CMUT technology has been criticized with its relatively low transmit sensitivity (~10 kPa/V) or low average volume displacement efficiency (0.1 nm/V) as well as large drive and bias voltage requirements (in a range of a few hundreds of volts). In order to resolve these issues and open up new potential of clinical applications, this dissertation describes the design, fabrication, and system implementation of CMUTs with substrate-embedded springs, so-called post-CMUT (PCMUT). Since PCMUT structure resembles an ideal piston transducer, the improvements in performance mainly stem from the higher average displacement of the top plate for a given gap height. The overview of the first generation PCMUT is introduced and two main issues in simulation and fabrication aspects of the first generation PCMUT is discussed. To further improve the PCMUT device, a 3D finite element analysis (FEA) model of the PCMUT is demonstrated to predict the performance of the first generation PCMUT. In addition, the design guideline of the second generation PCMUT is proposed for achieving the maximum fractional bandwidth (100 %) as well as with the highest transmit sensitivity (~28 kPa/V). The second generation PCMUT is fabricated by using three combination MEMS processes: usage of two silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers, wafer bonding process, and wafer polishing process. The second generation PCMUT achieves high transmit sensitivity (~21 kPa/V) or large average volume displacement efficiency (1.1 nm/V) with a low bias voltage (55 V). Compared to a commercial piezoelectric transducer, the second generation PCMUT improves 2.75 times of the maximum output pressure and 5.25 times of the average volume displacement efficiency with respect to the same voltage. After fabrication and performance characterization of the second generation PCMUT, this dissertation demonstrates the feasibility of PCMUT to use it in medical imaging system by integrating PCMUT with a custom-built integrated circuit (IC). Photoacoustic imaging is also presented for one of its application examples.
Download or read book Interface Engineering of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers for Medical Applications written by Der-Song Lin and published by Stanford University. This book was released on 2011 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs), have been widely studied in academia and industry over the last decade. CMUTs provide many benefits over traditional piezoelectric transducers including improvement in performance through wide bandwidth, and ease of electronics integration, with the potential to batch fabricate very large 2D arrays with low-cost and high-yield. Though many aspects of CMUT technology have been studied over the years, packaging the CMUT into a fully practical system has not been thoroughly explored. Two important interfaces of packaging that this thesis explores are device encapsulation (the interface between CMUTs and patients) and full electronic integration of large scale 2D arrays (the interface between CMUTs and electronics). In the first part of the work, I investigate the requirements for the CMUT encapsulation. For medical usage, encapsulation is needed to electrically insulate the device, mechanically protect the device, and maintain transducer performance, especially the access of the ultrasound energy. While hermetic sealing can protect many other MEMS devices, CMUTs require mechanical interaction to a fluid, which makes fulfilling the previous criterion very challenging. The proposed solution is to use a viscoelastic material with the glass-transition-temperature lower than room temperature, such as Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), to preserve the CMUT static and dynamic performance. Experimental implementation of the encapsulated imaging CMUT arrays shows the device performance was maintained; 95 % of efficiency, 85% of the maximum output pressure, and 91% of the fractional bandwidth (FBW) can be preserved. A viscoelastic finite element model was also developed and shows the performance effects of the coating can be accurately predicted. Four designs, providing acoustic crosstalk suppression, flexible substrate, lens focusing, and blood flow monitoring using PDMS layer were also demonstrated. The second part of the work, presents contributions towards the electronic integration and packaging of large-area 2-D arrays. A very large 2D array is appealing for it can enable advanced novel imaging applications, such as a reconfigurable array, and a compression plate for breast cancer screening. With these goals in mind, I developed the first large-scale fully populated and integrated 2D CMUTs array with 32 by 192 elements. In this study, I demonstrate a flexible and reliable integration approach by successfully combining a simple UBM preparation technique and a CMUTs-interposer-ASICs sandwich design. The results show high shear strength of the UBM (26.5 g), 100% yield of the interconnections, and excellent CMUT resonance uniformity ([lowercase Sigma] = 0.02 MHz). As demonstrated, this allows for a large-scale assembly of a tile-able array by using an interposer. Interface engineering is crucial towards the development of CMUTs into a practical ultrasound system. With the advances in encapsulation technique with a viscoelastic polymer and the combination of the UBM technique to the TSV fabrication for electronics integration, a fully integrated CMUT system can be realized.
Download or read book Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers CMUTs on Glass Substrates for Next Generation Medical Imaging and Beyond written by Xiao Zhang and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers with Vented Cavities written by Nikhil Apte and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs) are increasingly seen as a better alternative than piezoelectric transducers for many ultrasound applications. Ultrasonic flow metering presents one such case where CMUTs are much better suited. Due to their lower mechanical impedance, CMUTs are more efficient at coupling sound into a fluid medium than piezoelectric transducers. Unlike piezoelectric transducers which suffer from depoling at temperatures above their Curie point, CMUTs can easily be used in higher temperatures. This should make CMUTs ideal candidates for ultrasonic flow metering in extreme environments such as those that exist in flare stacks, high temperature steam lines in industrial plants, etc. Despite these benefits, conventional CMUTs are not suited for the highly variable pressure conditions that many flowmeters have to operate under. CMUTs with vented or pressurized cavities can overcome this limitation. This dissertation presents the design and modeling for such CMUTs. A reliable fabrication process for CMUTs vented through the plate or through the substrate is also presented. The fluid squeeze film formed in the cavity between the CMUT plate and the substrate provides a way to control the bandwidth and sensitivity of such CMUTs. The dissertation presents CMUTs with bandwidth ranging from 1% to over 20% in air. These CMUTs were tested under a pressure of up to 20 bar and maintained good bandwidth and SNR. The dissertation also discusses the importance of packaging for CMUTs vented through the substrate and presents a way to utilize acoustic resonances in the package for maintaining a steady operating frequency under varying pressure. The wide bandwidth of such CMUTs can be utilized in many other application of ultrasound in air. The dissertation briefly discussed the application of these CMUTs for thermoacoustic imaging as well as for gesture sensing.
Download or read book Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Microfabricated ultrasonic transducers have been generated which operate in both liquids and gases. Air coupled through transmission of aluminum was observed for the first time using a pair of 2.3 MHz transducers. The dynamic range of the transducers was 110 dB, and the received signal had an SNR of 30 dB. Air coupled through transmission of steel and glass has also been observed. A theoretical model for the transducers has been refined and agrees well with experimental results. A robust microfabrication process has been developed and was used to generate air transducers which resonate from 2 to 12 MHz, as well as immersion transducers that operate in water from 1 to 20 MHz with a 60 dB dynamic range. Optimized immersion and air transducers have been designed and a dynamic range above 110 dB is anticipated. This development effort finds applications in hydrophones, medical ultrasound, nondestructive evaluation, ranging, flow metering, and scanning tip force sensing and lithography.
Download or read book Interface Engineering of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers for Medical Applications written by Der-Song Lin and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs), have been widely studied in academia and industry over the last decade. CMUTs provide many benefits over traditional piezoelectric transducers including improvement in performance through wide bandwidth, and ease of electronics integration, with the potential to batch fabricate very large 2D arrays with low-cost and high-yield. Though many aspects of CMUT technology have been studied over the years, packaging the CMUT into a fully practical system has not been thoroughly explored. Two important interfaces of packaging that this thesis explores are device encapsulation (the interface between CMUTs and patients) and full electronic integration of large scale 2D arrays (the interface between CMUTs and electronics). In the first part of the work, I investigate the requirements for the CMUT encapsulation. For medical usage, encapsulation is needed to electrically insulate the device, mechanically protect the device, and maintain transducer performance, especially the access of the ultrasound energy. While hermetic sealing can protect many other MEMS devices, CMUTs require mechanical interaction to a fluid, which makes fulfilling the previous criterion very challenging. The proposed solution is to use a viscoelastic material with the glass-transition-temperature lower than room temperature, such as Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), to preserve the CMUT static and dynamic performance. Experimental implementation of the encapsulated imaging CMUT arrays shows the device performance was maintained; 95 % of efficiency, 85% of the maximum output pressure, and 91% of the fractional bandwidth (FBW) can be preserved. A viscoelastic finite element model was also developed and shows the performance effects of the coating can be accurately predicted. Four designs, providing acoustic crosstalk suppression, flexible substrate, lens focusing, and blood flow monitoring using PDMS layer were also demonstrated. The second part of the work, presents contributions towards the electronic integration and packaging of large-area 2-D arrays. A very large 2D array is appealing for it can enable advanced novel imaging applications, such as a reconfigurable array, and a compression plate for breast cancer screening. With these goals in mind, I developed the first large-scale fully populated and integrated 2D CMUTs array with 32 by 192 elements. In this study, I demonstrate a flexible and reliable integration approach by successfully combining a simple UBM preparation technique and a CMUTs-interposer-ASICs sandwich design. The results show high shear strength of the UBM (26.5 g), 100% yield of the interconnections, and excellent CMUT resonance uniformity ([lowercase Sigma] = 0.02 MHz). As demonstrated, this allows for a large-scale assembly of a tile-able array by using an interposer. Interface engineering is crucial towards the development of CMUTs into a practical ultrasound system. With the advances in encapsulation technique with a viscoelastic polymer and the combination of the UBM technique to the TSV fabrication for electronics integration, a fully integrated CMUT system can be realized.
Download or read book Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers CMUTs for Humidity Sensing written by Zhou Zheng and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the last two decades, capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs) have proven themselves to be promising for various ultrasound imaging and chemical sensing applications. Although holding many benefits for ultrasound imaging, CMUTs have certain weaknesses such as the relatively low output pressure at transmission, which hinder their development in the diagnostic imaging application. In the sensing area, CMUTs have shown attractive features such as high mass sensitivity, miniaturized array configuration, and ease of functionalization. However, their potential for humidity sensing is less explored. The objectives of this thesis lie in two aspects. One is to offer a solution to overcome the limitation of low output pressure, and the other is to develop CMUTs as resonant gravimetric humidity sensors. The major efforts are made on the second task. For the first objective, a novel dual-element ultrasonic transducer is proposed. It incorporates two transducer technologies by using a circular piezoelectric element for ultrasound transmission and an annular CMUT element for reception. The hybrid transducer combines the broad bandwidth and high receive sensitivity of the CMUT and the high output power of the piezoelectric transducer to improve the overall sensitivity and axial resolution. The annular CMUT is designed, fabricated, and concentrically aligned with the piezoelectric probe via a custom housing. Immersion measurements show that the hybrid dual-element transducer improves the axial resolution by 25.58% and the signal-to-noise ratio by 8.55 dB over the commercial piezoelectric probe. For the second objective, a CMUT-based resonant humidity sensor is first developed with the direct wafer bonding technique. Graphene oxide (GO) is employed as the sensing material. Due to combination of the mass-sensitive CMUT and the moisture-sensitive GO, the sensor exhibits rapid response/recovery, good repeatability, and higher sensitivity than most of its competitors. The second generation of CMUT-based humidity sensors aims to further improve the relative humidity (RH) sensing performance by adopting the nitride-to-oxide wafer bonding technology for CMUT fabrication. In contrast to conventional wafer bonding CMUT processes that use expensive silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers to produce resonating membranes, the new process employs low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) silicon nitride as the membrane material. It provides thinner and lighter membranes, and thus more sensitive CMUT resonators. Additional benefits of the nitride-to-oxide wafer bonding technique are the reduced fabrication complexity and more controllable membrane thickness. Finally, a dual-frequency (10/14 MHz) CMUT is developed using this fabrication technique. It generates two RH response curves and can provide more accurate RH sensing. Due to the independence of the two resonance frequencies, the dual-frequency CMUT also shows great potential for identification of different chemicals. This thesis demonstrates that CMUT sensors can be strong candidates for miniaturized, highly sensitive, and reliable humidity sensors.
Download or read book Exploring Multiple mode Vibrations of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers CMUTs written by Wei You and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers CMUTs Built with Wafer bonding Technology written by Yongli Huang and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers CMUTs for Therapeutic Applications written by Hyo-Seon Yoon and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a noninvasive method to treat a variety of diseases. Most of the HIFU machines in clinic typically consist of a piezoelectric transducer array and an imaging system for temperature monitoring and anatomical location guidance. One of the limitations of piezoelectric transducers is self-heating, which requires cooling systems to protect both transducers and patients. Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs) are another type of transducers fabricated with silicon micromachining. CMUTs are promising candidates as therapeutic transducers, as they experience a lot less self-heating compared to piezoelectric transducers. This dissertation mainly focuses on describing the design, simulation, fabrication, characterization, and experimental results of CMUTs for HIFU applications. Single-element transducers are fabricated using local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS)-wafer-bonding process. The measurement part compares the self-heating of a PZT and a CMUT, and discusses the charging issue of CMUTs. Geometric focusing using multiple single-element CMUTs is also demonstrated. The fabrication of 1-D CMUT arrays to enhance the output pressure for HIFU applications is discussed. Higher output pressure of a CMUT cell can be achieved by adding one extra fabrication step to the existing fabrication process. Two-dimensional transducer arrays are required for electronic focusing and beam steering. An 8-channel continuous wave (CW) excitation system is developed to drive a 2-D CMUT array. This 8-channel system minimizes the system complexity without significant loss of focusing capability, compared to a full system with hundreds to thousands of channels. The first successful 2-D CMUT array fabricated using the thick-buried-oxide (BOX) process is presented. The breakdown issue of the insulation layer observed in the test stage is investigated as well. Another type of 2-D CMUT array fabricated using the sacrificial-release process is also tested for HIFU applications. Using the 8-channel CW excitation system, the 2-D CMUT array has proven to be able to produce enough output pressure for thermal ablation. This dissertation presents the result of ex-vivo experiments, which created thermal lesions on bovine tissue using a CMUT array for the first time.
Download or read book Characterization of Multiple Moving Membrane Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer written by Md. Iftekharul Islam and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A newly developed multiple moving membrane capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (M3-CMUT) is fabricated and characterized in this thesis. Unlike the single vibrating membrane in the conventional capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT), the novel design involves two deflectable membranes suspended over a fixed bottom electrode. In the presence of bias, both of the membranes deflect simultaneously, which results in a smaller cavity compared to a CMUT. To understand the basics of a capacitive transducer, an equivalent mass-spring-capacitor model of CMUT was reported. The results of this analytical model were used to develop the finite element models (FEM) of CMUT and more complex M3-CMUT in COMSOL Multiphysics software. The electromechanical analysis of these models was conducted to observe their operating conditions. Following the modeling and analysis, several single-cell, 1-D, and 2-D arrays of these devices were fabricated using PolyMUMPs technology, a sacrificial fabrication technique for the MEMS transducers. The electrical and acoustic characterizations of the fabricated devices were performed to measure the actual transducer properties. The measured data and the model results were found to be in good agreement. It was observed from the electrical impedance measurements that a higher membrane deflection was achieved in the double membrane device. The reduction in the cavity of M3-CMUT enhanced the sensitivity of the transducer. The acoustic characterization using a pitch-catch experimental setup demonstrated that the novel M3-CMUT could be used as an ultrasonic transducer. The velocity and attenuation of the acoustic waves, when the transducer used as both the transmitter and the receiver, were found to be very close to the theoretical value.
Download or read book Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers written by Dilruba Zaman Jeba and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs) have been developed as an alternative to piezoelectric transducers for ultrasonic imaging in non-destructive testing applications. These CMUTs offer substantial advantages over their piezoelectric counterparts, which include a highly miniaturized system, easy integration with electronic control circuitry, a wider bandwidth, and a higher sensitivity. In this thesis, the design, fabrication and characterization of several single and array CMUT devices are reported. Many sizes of CMUTs, aiming to operate at different resonant frequencies, were fabricated using a PolyMUMPs sacrificial technique. An analytical and finite element model was used to further understanding of the physical behaviour of the transducer. The basic functionality of the CMUT devices was investigated through capacitance and electrical impedance measurements. These devices showed greater change in the capacitance and impedance data while operating close to their collapse voltages. This higher change in both capacitance and impedance is a result of a larger membrane displacement. The acoustic output power is directly related to the magnitude of the membrane's displacement. The transducers performance thus can be enhanced by operating close to their collapse voltage and obtained higher sensitivity. The optical characterization, performed on the single devices and on the 1-D arrays, provided a better understanding of the membrane vibration modes and displacement profiles at different resonant frequency modes. Acoustic measurements were performed to demonstrate the transmission capability of the CMUTs. The generated acoustic signals were detected using a commercial detector. These acoustic experiments demonstrated that these CMUTs can potentially be used as ultrasonic transducers alternative to piezoelectric transducers.
Download or read book The Design Fabrication and Characterization of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers for Imaging Applications written by Andrew Stephan Logan and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs) have proven themselves to be excellent candidates for medical ultrasonic imaging applications. The use of semiconductor fabrication techniques facilitates the fabrication of high quality arrays of uniform cells and elements, broad acoustic bandwidth, the potential to integrate the transducers with the necessary electronics, and the opportunity to exploit the benefits of batch fabrication. In this thesis, the design, fabrication and testing of one- and two-dimensional CMUT arrays using a novel wafer bonding process whereby the membrane and the insulation layer are both silicon nitride is reported. A user-grown insulating membrane layer avoids the need for expensive SOI wafers, permits optimization of the electrode size, and allows more freedom in selecting the membrane thickness, while also enjoying the benefits of wafer bonding fabrication. Using a row-column addressing scheme for an NxN two-dimensional array permits three-dimensional imaging with a large reduction in the complexity of the array when compared to a conventional 2D array with connections to all N2 elements. Only 2N connections are required and the image acquisition rate has the potential to be greatly increased. A simplification of the device at the imaging end will facilitate the integration of a three-dimensional imaging CMUT array into either an endoscope or catheter which is the ultimate purpose of this research project. To date, many sizes of transducers which operate at different frequencies have been successfully fabricated. Initial characterization in terms of resonant frequency and, transmission and reception in immersion has been performed on most of the device types. Extensive characterization has been performed with a linear 32 element array transducer and a 32x32 element row-column transducer. Two- and three-dimensional phased array imaging has been demonstrated.
Download or read book Advances in Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer CMUT Technologies written by James Stuart McIntosh and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers for Therpaeutic sic Ultrasound written by Serena H. Wong and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Application of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers CMUTs for Chem Bio Sensing and Device Advances Enabling Acoustic Angiography written by Marzana Mantasha Mahmud and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
