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US 2024/0165663 A1Published application
Pulse train excitation for capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
InventorsBo Ma, Kamyar Firouzi, Butrus T. Khuri-Yakub, Jose Joseph
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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.
Claims21
(canceled)
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, and
- 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.
3 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.