Reception characteristics investigation and measurement of capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer

Sensor Review ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-246
Author(s):  
Hongliang Wang ◽  
Xiangjun Wang ◽  
Changde He ◽  
Chenyang Xue

Purpose As a new type of ultrasonic transducer with significant advantages, capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) has good application prospect. The reception characteristic of the CMUT is one of the important factors determining the application effect. This paper aims to study the reception characteristics of CMUT. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the state equation is deduced and the analysis model is established in SIMULINK environment based on the lumped parameter system model of the CMUT cell. Based on this analysis model, the influencing factors of CMUT reception characteristics are studied and investigated, and the time-domain and frequency-domain characteristics are investigated in detail. Findings The analysis results show that parameters directly affect the reception characteristics of the CMUT, such as direct current (DC) bias voltage, input sound pressure amplitude and frequency. At the same time, the measurement system is built and the reception characteristics are verified. Originality/value This paper provides an effective method for rapid analyzing the reception characteristics of CMUT. These results provide an important theoretical basis and reference for further optimization of CMUT structure design, and lay a good foundation for the practical application measurement.

Sensor Review ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tian Zhang ◽  
Wendong Zhang ◽  
XingLing Shao ◽  
Yang Wu

Purpose Because of the small size and high integration of capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) component, it can be made into large-scale array, but this lead to high hardware complexity, so the purpose of this paper is to use less elements to achieve better imaging results. In this research, an optimized sparse array is studied, which can suppress the side lobe and reduce the imaging artifacts compared with the equispaced sparse array with the same number of elements. Design/methodology/approach Genetic algorithm is used to sparse the CMUT linear array, and Kaiser window apodization is added to reduce imaging artifacts, the beam pattern and peak-to-side lobe ratio are calculated, point targets imaging comparisons are performed. Furthermore, a 256-elements CMUT linear array is used to carry out the imaging experiment of embedded mass and forearm blood vessel, and the imaging results are compared quantitatively. Findings Through the imaging comparison of embedded mass and forearm blood vessel, the feasibility of optimized sparse array of CMUT is verified, and the purpose of reducing the hardware complexity is achieved. Originality/value This research provides a basis for the large-scale CMUT array to reduce the hardware complexity and the amount of calculation. At present, the CMUT array has been used in medical ultrasound imaging and has huge market potential.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiujiang Wang ◽  
Yuanyu Yu ◽  
Jiangming Kuang ◽  
Shuang Zhang ◽  
Jing Xu ◽  
...  

Background: Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) is a new type ultrasound transducer which has gained more and more research interests in ultrasound imaging because of its wider bandwidth, higher receiving sensitivity and more likely to be integrated with integrated circuit (IC). Analytical solution is intuitive, fast and convergent among simulation methods. The membrane deflection is important to the CMUT performance. The deformation for a circular CMUT under an external force can be described by von Kármán equations. Objective: To find suitable boundary conditions that are crucial for the governing equations to be properly solved to get the analytical solutions for membrane deformation. Methods: Features of two commonly used CMUT fabrication methods, sacrificial release method (SR) and wafer bonding (WB) method, are introduced. The force and moment equilibrium conditions of the supporting post are analyzed to get the boundary condition equations. Results: The analytical results match well with finite element method (FEM) results for the fixed boundary condition while there are still some difference for the elastic boundary condition. Conclusion: The boundary conditions for SR fabricated devices are elastic support while the boundary conditions for WB fabricated devices are fixed.


Sensor Review ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Zhang ◽  
Wendong Zhang ◽  
Changde He ◽  
Jinlong Song ◽  
Linfeng Mu ◽  
...  

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to develop a novel capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) reception and transmission linear array for underwater imaging at 400 kHz. Compared with traditional CMUTs, the developed transducer array offers higher electromechanical coupling coefficient and higher directivity performance. Design/methodology/approach – The configuration of the newly developed CMUT reception and transmission array was determined by the authors’ previous research into new element structures with patterned top electrodes and into directivity simulation analysis. Using the Si-Silicon on insulator (Si-SOI) bonding technique and the principle of acoustic impedance matching, the CMUT array was fabricated and packaged. In addition, underwater imaging system design and testing based on the packaged CMUT 1 × 16 array were completed. Findings – The simulation results showed that the optimized CMUT array configuration was selected. Furthermore, the designed configuration of the CMUT 1 × 16 linear array was good enough to guarantee high angular resolution. The underwater experiments were conducted to demonstrate that this CMUT array can be of great benefit in imaging applications. Practical implications – Based on our research, the CMUT linear array has good directivity and good impedance matching with water and can be used for obstacle avoidance, distance measurement and imaging underwater. Originality/value – This research provides a basis for CMUT directivity theory and array design. CMUT array presented in this paper has good directivity and has been applied in the underwater imaging, resulting in a huge market potential in underwater detection systems.


Author(s):  
Yuanyu Yu ◽  
Jiujiang Wang ◽  
Xin Liu ◽  
Sio Hang Pun ◽  
Weibao Qiu ◽  
...  

Background:: Ultrasound is widely used in the applications of underwater imaging. Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) is a promising candidate to the traditional piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer. In underwater ultrasound imaging, better resolutions can be achieved with a higher frequency ultrasound. Therefore, a CMUT array for high-frequency ultrasound imaging is proposed in this work. Methods:: Analytical methods are used to calculate the center frequency in water and the pull-in voltage for determining the operating point of CMUT. Finite element method model was developed to finalize the design parameters. The CMUT array was fabricated with a five-mask sacrificial release process. Results:: The CMUT array owned an immersed center frequency of 2.6 MHz with a 6 dB fractional bandwidth of 123 %. The pull-in voltage of the CMUT array was 85 V. An underwater imaging experiment was carried out with the target of three steel wires. Conclusion:: In this study, we have developed CMUT for high-frequency underwater imaging. The experiment showed that the CMUT can detect the steel wires with the diameter of 100 μm and the axial resolution was 0.582 mm, which is close to one wavelength of ultrasound in 2.6 MHz.


2019 ◽  
Vol 267 ◽  
pp. 02001
Author(s):  
Liangli Xiao ◽  
Yan Liu ◽  
Zhuang Du ◽  
Zhao Yang ◽  
Kai Xu

This study combines specific high-rise shear wall residential projects with the Revit to demonstrate BIM application processes. The use of R-Star CAD may help to realize the link barrier of the building information model and the structural analysis software PKPM. Sequentially, the information supplement of the structural analysis model is completed by extracting the structural information with the Revit secondary development. By the collaborative design platform based on BIM technology, the paper examines the collision check of structural model, conducts collision analysis on other professional models and modifies the design scheme for conflict points. After the statistics of material usage, an optimized design is proposed. The findings of this paper could contribute to provide some reference for the specific application of BIM in structural design and realize the application of BIM technology in the process of building structure design.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1459
Author(s):  
Varshitha Yashvanth ◽  
Sazzadur Chowdhury

This paper presents a novel technique to reduce acoustic crosstalk in capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) arrays. The technique involves fabricating a thin layer of diisocyanate enhanced silica aerogel on the top surface of a CMUT array. The silica aerogel layer introduces a highly nanoporous permeable layer to reduce the intensity of the Scholte wave at the CMUT-fluid interface. 3D finite element analysis (FEA) simulation in COMSOL shows that the developed technique can provide a 31.5% improvement in crosstalk reduction for the first neighboring element in a 7.5 MHz CMUT array. The average improvement of crosstalk level over the −6 dB fractional bandwidth was 22.1%, which is approximately 5 dB lower than that without an aerogel layer. The results are in excellent agreement with published experimental results to validate the efficacy of the new technique.


Author(s):  
Jialin Tian ◽  
Xuehua Hu ◽  
Liming Dai ◽  
Lin Yang ◽  
Yi Yang ◽  
...  

This paper presents a new drilling tool with multidirectional and controllable vibrations for enhancing the drilling rate of penetration and reducing the wellbore friction in complex well structure. Based on the structure design, the working mechanism is analyzed in downhole conditions. Then, combined with the impact theory and the drilling process, the theoretical models including the various impact forces are established. Also, to study the downhole performance, the bottom hole assembly dynamics characteristics in new condition are discussed. Moreover, to study the influence of key parameters on the impact force, the parabolic effect of the tool and the rebound of the drill string were considered, and the kinematics and mechanical properties of the new tool under working conditions were calculated. For the importance of the roller as a vibration generator, the displacement trajectory of the roller under different rotating speed and weight on bit was compared and analyzed. The reliable and accuracy of the theoretical model were verified by comparing the calculation results and experimental test results. The results show that the new design can produce a continuous and stable periodic impact. By adjusting the design parameter matching to the working condition, the bottom hole assembly with the new tool can improve the rate of penetration and reduce the wellbore friction or drilling stick-slip with benign vibration. The analysis model can also be used for a similar method or design just by changing the relative parameters. The research and results can provide references for enhancing drilling efficiency and safe production.


Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 714
Author(s):  
Jiujiang Wang ◽  
Xin Liu ◽  
Yuanyu Yu ◽  
Yao Li ◽  
Ching-Hsiang Cheng ◽  
...  

Analytical modeling of capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) is one of the commonly used modeling methods and has the advantages of intuitive understanding of the physics of CMUTs and convergent when modeling of collapse mode CMUT. This review article summarizes analytical modeling of the collapse voltage and shows that the collapse voltage of a CMUT correlates with the effective gap height and the electrode area. There are analytical expressions for the collapse voltage. Modeling of the membrane deflections are characterized by governing equations from Timoshenko, von Kármán equations and the 2D plate equation, and solved by various methods such as Galerkin’s method and perturbation method. Analytical expressions from Timoshenko’s equation can be used for small deflections, while analytical expression from von Kármán equations can be used for both small and large deflections.


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