Waveguide piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer array for short-range pulse-echo imaging

This paper presents an 8 x 24 element, 100 mu m-pitch, 20MHz ultrasound imager based on a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) array having integrated acoustic waveguides. The 70 mu m diameter, 220 mu m long waveguides function both to direct acoustic waves and to confine acoustic energy, and also to provide mechanical protection for the PMUT array used for surface-imaging applications such as an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. The imager consists of a PMUT array bonded with a CMOS ASIC using wafer-level conductive eutectic bonding. This construction allows each PMUT in the array to have a dedicated front-end receive amplifier, which together with on-chip analog multiplexing enables individual pixel read-out with high signal-to-noise ratio through minimized parasitic capacitance between the PMUT and the front-end amplifier. Finite element method simulations demonstrate that the waveguides preserve the pressure amplitude of acoustic pulses over distances of 600 mu m. Moreover, the waveguide design demonstrated here enables pixel-by-pixel readout of the ultrasound image due to improved directivity of the PMUT by directing acoustic waves and creating a pressure field with greater spatial uniformity at the end of the waveguide. Pulse-echo imaging experiments conducted using a one-dimensional steel grating demonstrate the array's ability to form a two-dimensional image of a target. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.