Abstract
Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT) provides an alternative to commercial piezoelectric-based ultrasonic transducers due to its wide bandwidth, improved efficiency, sensitivity, and design flexibility [1, 2]. In this paper, Finite Element Method-based design and simulations of circular capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) is presented. The FEM simulation of air-coupled CMUT was accomplished by using MEMCAD tools CoventorWare® and COMSOL™. The resonance frequency of 3.9 MHz was achieved for the designed circular CMUT device. A favourable agreement was found for the resonance frequency and pull-in voltage of the device using MEMSCAD tools and analytical calculations. For the proposed CMUT design, a circular cavity will be formed inside the glass substrate. Then, a free-standing membrane will be released using active layer of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. The bulk silicon of SOI wafer will be removed after bonding it on the glass substrate using anodic bonding technique as described in fabrication process flow for CMUT.
Finite Element Simulation and Analysis of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer
