2018 conference paper
Design and Fabrication of High-Frequency Ultra-Wideband 1D CMUT Arrays for Acoustic Angiography Applications - Preliminary Results
2018 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS). Presented at the 2018 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS).
Event: 2018 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS)
For superharmonic imaging applications involving the use of microbubble contrast agents, transducers that can transmit energy at low frequencies (less than 5 MHz) to excite the microbubbles, and at the same time detect scattered echoes at higher harmonics (greater than 20 MHz) are essential. We explored the advantages of a thin silicon plate with an added central mass combined with a reduced bottom electrode area to further improve the bandwidth of 1D capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays. FEM simulation results show that the fabricated devices can transmit at low frequency (<;3 MHz) and receive echoes at high frequency (beyond 30 MHz). This translates into a 180% fractional bandwidth at 17 MHz for the fabricated 1D CMUT array.