Sensitivity—Bandwidth Optimization of PMUT with Acoustical Matching Using Finite Element Method

Abstract

A new model in finite element method to study round-trip performance of piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (pMUTs) is established. Most studies on the performance of pMUT are based only on the transmission sensibility, but the reception capacity is as much important as the transmission one, and is quite different from this latter. In this work, the round-trip sensitivity of pMUT is defined as the product of the frequency response of transmitted far field pressure to source voltage excitation and that of reception output to return wave pressure. Based on this sensitivity characteristic, firstly, a multi-parameter optimization for a cavity pMUT is performed using the sensitivity-bandwidth product parameter SBW as criterion. The radii of the electrode and the piezoelectric layer, the thicknesses of the piezoelectric layer and the vibration diaphragm are adjusted to maximize the performance. Secondly, an acoustic matching method is proposed and applied to pMUTs for the first time. As a result, the round-trip sensitivity can be evaluated and the pulse-echo response of wide-band excitation can be simulated, giving the most quantitative and intuitive feedback for pMUT design. The optimization enhances the sensitivity-bandwidth product by 52% when the top electrode and piezoelectric layer are both etched to 75% radius of the cavity beneath; the introduction of an acoustic matching layer shows significant bandwidth expansion in both the transmitting and receiving process.

A miniaturized transit-time ultrasonic flowmeter based on ScAlN piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers for small-diameter applications

“…The reflection coefficient is defined as R = ( Z 2 − Z 1 ) / ( Z 1 + Z 2 ), where Z 1 and Z 2 are the acoustic impedance of water and the matching layer, respectively 35 . To compensate for the acoustic impedance mismatch, polyurethane (PU) was chosen as the matching layer of the transceiver because its acoustic impedance (1.42 MRayl) is close to that of water 36 . When using a matching layer with impedance Z 1 = 1.42 MRayl, the reflection at the interface with Z 2 = 1.5 MRayl (water) is R = 2.7%.…”

Design of Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers Using High-Order Mode With High Performance and High Frequency

“…The round-trip sensitivity bandwidth product SBW RT is adopted as the optimization criterion in this work rather than a single parameter of displacement [20], sound pressure level [21] and electromechanical coupling coefficient [17], since it represents the global transmitting-receiving sensitivity and bandwidth in loaded condition, which consider the process from excitation to reception. Besides, the sensitivity and bandwidth (FBW ≈ 1/Q) are mutually compromising factors, thus making SBW a widely applicable and relatively stabilized coefficient [22]. Combine (11), (15) and ( 16), with the same cavity radius, The dependency of SBW RT with resonant frequency f 0 and displacement sensitivity A s are:…”