New applications for ultrasound

technology through CMUTs

Anartz Unamuno
26-09-2013

Fraunhofer IPMS

Agenda
Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUT)

What is ultrasound

1o1 ultrasound transducers

Comparison Piezoelectric & CMUT

History of CMUTs

Challenges CMUT & IPMS

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threads

Initial results of IPMS CMUTs

Current research for CMUT applications (worldwide)

Conclusion

Fraunhofer IPMS

Anartz Unamuno I 26.09.2013 I slide 2

What is ultrasound?

Images form Wikipedia search: Ultrasound

S am ple applications :
Medical imaging
Non-destructive testing
Level sensors
Speed sensors

Etc
Fraunhofer IPMS

T.G. Leighton / Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology 93 (2007) 383

Anartz Unamuno I 26.09.2013 I slide 3

1o1 -- Ultrasonic transducers

Piezoelectric
Trans ducer

Capacitv e Microm achined

Ultras onic Trans ducer

Image form Wikipedia search: Piezoelectricity

Oralkan O., 2002

Mechanical displacement generates US waves

Fraunhofer IPMS

Anartz Unamuno I 26.09.2013 I slide 4

Advantages -- Piezoelectric & CMUTs transducers

Piezoelectric

CMUT

Accepted technology

CMOS integration

Reliability(*)

Batch production reduced cost

Output acoustic pressure(*)

RoHS compatible
Tight parameter specification
High temp. capable (ca. 800 C)
Scalability (size, shape, array, 2D)
Axial resolution

(*) Two

factors that need to be addressed on CMUTs

Solving these two, CMUTs should be a winning technology!

Fraunhofer IPMS

Anartz Unamuno I 26.09.2013 I slide 5

History of CMUTs

Khuri-Yakub, http://www-kyg.stanford.edu/khuriyakub/opencms/en/research/cmuts/History/index.html

A MEMS device researched over the last 20 years

But no products on Euro nor US market using CMUTs yet!!

Fraunhofer IPMS

Anartz Unamuno I 26.09.2013 I slide 6

Challenges of fabricating CMUTs matches Fraunhofer IPMS expertise

Requirem ent

Fraunhofer IPMS has

m arketed product

Large arrays of MEMS elements with quasi-identical

performance
High voltage drive for capacitive MEMS
Low noise amplifiers or receive side
Integration MEMS-CMOS
Material expertise (process control)
Testing capabilities
Infrastructure to access and service small-to-medium
size customers
US system integration
Many issues have been previously solved at IPMS
Fraunhofer IPMS

Anartz Unamuno I 26.09.2013 I slide 7

Work at IPMS -- Electrically testable 1D CMUT array

Testable CMUT devices

Fraunhofer IPMS

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Work at IPMS -- Electrical impedance measurement

Fraunhofer IPMS

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Work at IPMS -- Resonance frequency distribution

Resonance frequency spread, SD = 17 kHz (62 array elements)

Fraunhofer IPMS

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Applications Intra Vascular UltraSound (IVUS)

Khuri-Yakub, 2009

Degertekin, 2012
Fraunhofer IPMS

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Applications Harsh environment

High Pres s ure
High Tem perature

Reference 2

Reference 1

1.
2.

Reference 2

Kupnik et Al., US patent 7,843,022

M.-C. Ho, M. Kupnik, K. K. Park, K. Eckhoff, and B. T. Khuri-Yakub, Wide pressure range
operation of air-coupled CMUTs, in Proc. IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, pp. 93-96, 2012.

Fraunhofer IPMS

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Applications Chemical sensors

Almira Ramanaviciene, Darius Virzonis, Gailius Vanagas and Arnas Ramanavicius, Capacitive
micromachined ultrasound transducer (cMUT) for immunosensor design, Analyst, 2010, 135, 1531
DOI: 10.1039/c0an00104j

Fraunhofer IPMS

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Applications Neural stimulation

Reference 1

1.

2.

Omer Naor et al, Towards multifocal ultrasonic neural stimulation II: design
considerations for an acoustic retinal prosthesis, J. Neural Eng. 9 026006, 2012
Menz, Michael D - Oralkan, Omer - Khuri-Yakub, Pierre T - Baccus, Stephen A, Precise
neural stimulation in the retina using focused ultrasound, The Journal of
neuroscience: the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, Vol. 33, No. 10

Fraunhofer IPMS

Anartz Unamuno I 26.09.2013 I slide 14

Conclusions

CMUTs enable novel ultrasonic applications

CMUTs should not be seen as a replacement for pezoelectric transducers,

but they are the only option in some applications (e.g. High temp, large
2D array integration, etc.)

Technology is reaching a mature state to be deployed to the markets.

IPMS has one of the few fabrication facilities around the world, where it
is possible to produce large MEMS arrays at tight tolerances.

Several team around the Globe are developing clever applications to

make use of the CMUT capabilities.

Fraunhofer IPMS

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Thanks!
Fraunhofer IPMS

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