Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer

A capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer having a plurality of transducer elements each including a plurality of transducer subelements each having a plurality of transducer cells each of which includes a membrane having a first electrode and a supporting film for supporting the first electrode, and also includes a second electrode arranged being opposite to the first electrode and being spaced apart from the first electrode at a prescribed interval, wherein:

• each of the transducer subelements is any one of a first transducer subelement and a second transducer subelement respectively transmitting ultrasonic waves having frequency components different from each other;
• the transducer cells in the transducer subelements have the same resonant frequency;
• an ultrasonic wave transmission/reception surface is formed by arranging the transducer elements;
• and
• the ultrasonic wave transmission/reception surface is configured to:
• transmit ultrasonic waves from the respective transducer cells when transmitting ultrasonic waves;
• and
• resonate with an ultrasonic wave having a frequency component of a difference of the frequencies of the transmitted ultrasonic waves when receiving the ultrasonic waves.

A capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer including a plurality of transducer elements each having a plurality of transducer cells each of which includes a membrane having a first electrode and a supporting film for supporting the first electrode, and also includes a second electrode arranged being opposite to the first electrode and being spaced apart from the first electrode at a prescribed interval, wherein:

• each of the transducer elements includes a first transducer cell and a second transducer cell that transmit ultrasonic waves respectively having frequency components different from each other;
• the ultrasonic wave transmitted from each of the transducer elements is a difference frequency ultrasonic wave based on the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the first transducer cell and the second transducer cell;
• and
• the waves are converged such that the difference frequency ultrasonic waves are brought into focus by controlling driving timing of the respective transducer elements.

A capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer having a plurality of transducer cells each of which includes a membrane having a first electrode and a supporting film for supporting the first electrode, and also includes a second electrode arranged being opposite to the first electrode and being spaced apart from the first electrode at a prescribed interval, wherein:

• each of the transducer cells is any one of a first transducer cell and a second transducer cell respectively transmitting ultrasonic waves having frequency components different from each other;
• the first transducer cell and the second transducer cell have resonant frequencies that are different from each other;
• and
• an ultrasonic wave transmission/reception surface is formed by alternately arranging the first transducer cell and the second transducer cell.