Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer
Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (PMUT) are MEMS-based piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers. Unlike bulk piezoelectric transducers which use the thickness-mode motion of a plate of piezoelectric ceramic such as PZT or single-crystal PMN-PT, PMUT are based on the flexural motion of a thin membrane coupled with a thin piezoelectric film, such as PVDF.[1][2][3][4][5] In comparison with bulk piezoelectric ultrasound transducers, PMUT can offer advantages such as increased bandwidth, flexible geometries, natural acoustic impedance match with water, reduced voltage requirements, mixing of different resonant frequencies and potential for integration with supporting electronic circuits especially for miniaturized high frequency applications.
A flexible PMUT capable of wrapping around a human finger and producing fairly good images was developed by a group from Tsinghua University. The group aims to develop flexible ultrasound transducers that can replace current rigid ultrasound transducers.[6]
A PMUT-based battery replacement that generates power from ambient vibrations is scheduled for production in 2013.[7]
References
- ^ Trolier-McKinstry, Susan; P. Muralt (January 2004). "Thin Film Piezoelectric for MEMS". Journal of Electroceramics. 12 (1–2): 7. doi:10.1023/B:JECR.0000033998.72845.51.
- ^ Hajati, Arman; et al. (2012). "Three-dimensional micro electromechanical system piezoelectric ultrasound transducer". Applied Physics Letters. 101 (25): 253101. doi:10.1063/1.4772469.
- ^ Muralt, Paul (December 2005). "Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers based on PZT thin films". IEEE trans Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics. 52 (12): 2276. doi:10.1109/TUFFC.2005.1563270.
- ^ Qiu, Yongqiang; et al. (2015). "Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasound Transducer (PMUT) Arrays for Integrated Sensing, Actuation and Imaging". Sensors. 15 (4): 8020. doi:10.3390/s150408020.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ Brown, Lewis (November 2000). "Design Considerations for Piezoelectric Polymer Ultrasound Transducer". IEEE trans Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics. 47 (6): 1377–1396. doi:10.1109/58.883527.
- ^ Yang, Yi; et al. "A Flexible Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasound Transducer". RSC Advances. 3: 24900–24905. doi:10.1039/C3RA44619K.
- ^ "Mechanical energy harvester replaces small batteries". KurzweilAI. Retrieved 2013-05-06.