Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays for minimally invasive medical ultrasound

This paper reviews the minimally invasive capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) arrays for medical diagnosis and therapy. While piezoelectric transducers dominate today's medical ultrasound market, the capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer has recently emerged as a promising alternative which delivers a comparable device performance to its piezoelectric counterparts, is compatible with front-end circuit integration, allows high-density imager integration and is relative easy in miniaturization. Utilizing MEMS technology, the substrate of CMUT arrays can be micromachined into miniature platforms with various geometrical shapes, which include needles, three-dimensional prisms, as well as other flexible-substrate configurations. These arrays are useful for reaching deep inside the tissue or an organ with a minimally invasive approach. Due to the close proximity of the transducers to the target organ/tissue, a higher resolution/accuracy of diagnostic information can be achieved. In addition to pulse-echo and photoacoustic imaging, high-power CMUT devices capable of delivering ultrasounds with a pressure greater than 1.0 MPa have been monolithically integrated with imager CMUTs for image-guided therapy (IGT). Such miniature devices would facilitate diagnostic and therapy interventions not possible with conventional piezoelectric transducers.