Abstract
Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) technology has enjoyed rapid development in the last decade. Advancements both in fabrication and integration, coupled with improved modelling, has enabled CMUTs to make their way into mainstream ultrasound imaging systems and find commercial success. In this review paper, we touch upon recent advancements in CMUT technology at all levels of abstraction; modeling, fabrication, integration, and applications. Regarding applications, we discuss future trends for CMUTs and their impact within the broad field of biomedical imaging.
Highlights
The capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) started with an idea to make a better airborne ultrasound transducer operating in the MHz frequency range [1]
When the element count is high such that the number of channels in the imaging system cannot match the number of elements in the array, the ultrasound probe will definitely contain a certain amount of electronics that would take care of some of the front-end processing and reduce the number of transducer channels to match the number of channels in the imaging system
CMUTs have two very distinctive advantages when it comes to high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) applications
Summary
The capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) started with an idea to make a better airborne ultrasound transducer operating in the MHz frequency range [1]. The CMUT is a high electric field device, and if one can control the high electric field from issues like charging and breakdown, one has an ultrasound transducer with superior bandwidth and sensitivity, amenable for integration with electronics, manufactured using traditional integrated circuits fabrication technologies with all its advantages, and can be made flexible for wrapping around a cylinder or even over human tissue. We will review the various aspects of CMUT technology: theory of operation, fabrication with surface and bulk micromachining, electronic integration methods, characterization, and applications. Beyond this overview, further details in the above-named topics will be left to the references
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