Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers and Their use for 2D and 3D Imaging

Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (cMUTs) have proven to have remarkable features such as wide bandwidth and high sensitivity allowing the implementation of systems with wide dynamic range. This paper will review the theory and implementation of CMUTs that enable performance that is superior to piezoelectric transducers. In particular, the paper will discuss one-dimensional and two-dimensional arrays, broad frequency of operation (10 kHz to 50 MHz), and high coupling coefficient (k T 2 value as high as 0.85), and the use of these arrays in imaging applications.

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