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US 12,285,780 B2Granted
Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer with contoured electrode
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
InventorsBo Ma, Kamyar Firouzi, Butrus T. Khuri-Yakub, Jose Joseph
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Aspects of this disclosure relate to driving a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) with a pulse train of unipolar pulses. The CMUT may be electrically excited with a pulse train of unipolar pulses such that the CMUT operates in a continuous wave mode. In some embodiments, the CMUT may have a contoured electrode.
Claims20
A capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT), comprising:
- a contoured electrode;
- a substrate supporting the contoured electrode;
- and
- a plate covering the contoured electrode to form a cavity;
- wherein at least one of the substrate or the plate comprises metal,
- wherein a voltage applied across the contoured electrode and the plate deflects the plate, the cavity has a non-uniform cavity spacing between the plate and the contoured electrode, and the cavity spacing is largest in a central region of the plate, and
- wherein, when the plate is undeflected, the central region of the plate is spaced apart from the contoured electrode and an outer region of the plate is in contact with the contoured electrode.
4 more elements
A capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT), comprising:
- a contoured electrode;
- a substrate supporting the contoured electrode;
- a plate over the contoured electrode to define a cavity therebetween;
- and
- a plate support that contacts the plate and at least partially encircles the contoured electrode, at least part of the plate support being electrically insulating;
- wherein a voltage applied across the contoured electrode and the plate deflects the plate from an undeflected configuration into a deflected configuration, and
- wherein, in the undeflected configuration, a central region of the plate is spaced apart from the contoured electrode and an outer region of the plate is in contact with the contoured electrode.
4 more elements
A capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT), comprising:
- a contoured electrode having a central electrode region and an outer electrode region;
- a substrate supporting the contoured electrode, wherein the substrate comprises one or more of the following:
- glass, quartz, sapphire, diamond, or metal;
- and
- a plate covering the contoured electrode to form a cavity, wherein the plate is configured to deflect from an undeflected configuration to a deflected configuration in response to a voltage is applied across the contoured electrode and the plate,
- wherein, in the undeflected configuration, the cavity has a non-uniform spacing between the plate and the contoured electrode, and the non-uniform spacing being larger within the central electrode region than the outer electrode region,
- wherein, in the undeflected configuration, a portion of the outer electrode region of the contoured electrode contacts a portion of the plate.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.