SURFACE MICROMACHINED CAPACITIVE ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCERS

Citation
I. Ladabaum et al., SURFACE MICROMACHINED CAPACITIVE ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCERS, IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control, 45(3), 1998, pp. 678-690
Citations number
39
Categorie Soggetti
Engineering, Eletrical & Electronic",Acoustics
ISSN journal
08853010
Volume
45
Issue
3
Year of publication
1998
Pages
678 - 690
Database
ISI
SICI code
0885-3010(1998)45:3<678:SMCUT>2.0.ZU;2-7
Abstract
The current state of a novel technology, surface microfabricated ultra sonic transducers, is reported. Experiments demonstrating both air and water transmission are presented. Air-coupled longitudinal wave trans mission through aluminum is demonstrated, implying a 110 dB dynamic ra nge for transducers at 2.3 MHz in air. Water transmission experiments from 1 to 20 MHz are performed, with a measured 60 dB SNR at 3 MHz. A theoretical model is proposed that agrees well with observed transduce r behavior. Most significantly, the model is used to demonstrate that microfabricated ultrasonic transducers constitute an attractive altern ative to piezoelectric transducers in many applications.