ACULAB

Department of Engineering
University Roma Tre

www.cmut.it

Istituto Superiore di Sanità – 22 marzo 2019

 People
Ing. G. Caliano, Adjunct professor in Electronics
Director of Laboratory

Ing. A. S. Savoia, Assistant professor in Electronics

Responsible of research

Prof. M. Pappalardo, full professor, retired

Consulting Scientist & founder of the lab

Mrs. B. Mauti, Mr. E. Svaluto Moreolo

Technicians
Funding & partners

Maxim Int. Circuits, USA

ECSEL JU (european project) National Sem. USA,
Supertex, USA
Esaote, Italy
• MTLab @ FBK – Trento GE Medical Systems, France
Imasonic, France
Vermon, France
LionixBV - University of Twente Mikrotec Medical, Israel
ENEA, Roma
Gilardoni, Udine
CNR-IMM - Roma Optikon 2000, Roma
Dune, Roma

Stmicroelectronic - Milan
Outline

• Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUT)

• ACULAB Reverse Fabrication Process (RFP) technology
• Ultrasound probe fabrication
• System packaging and integration
• Electronics
• Patents
ACULAB
(Acousto-Electronics LAB)
• Was founded in 1996 by Prof. Massimo Pappalardo at the Dipartimento di
Ingegneria Elettronica of the Università degli Studi Roma Tre.

• The main research activity is in the field of Capacitive Micromachined

Ultrasound Transducers (CMUT) for medical imaging.

• Has received, since year 2000, grants for more than 3 Ml € for research activity in
the CMUT field, thanks to industrial partnerships (Esaote, GE,
STMicroelectronics, Maxim) and national (MIUR) and international (Eureka! ,
FP6, FP7) research programs.

• Has produced 11 international patents and more than 150 international

publications in the specific field.

• The facility includes three offices, a small clean room, an assembly and
characterization laboratory, a workshop and a computer room (globally 200
square meters).
ACULAB INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY

• In 2010, ACULAB obtained the admission to a 512 k€ grant from the

Italian Ministry of University to set up a small company, a spin-off of
Roma Tre University, with the industrial partnership of ESAOTE S.p.A.,
ST Microelectronics, Elemaster S.p.A. and other private investors that
made available funds amounting to 1,6 M€.
• After 2 years of industrial development (2008-2010) in the field of
cMUT medical imaging, ESAOTE (from 2010) decided to stop the
collaboration.
ACULAB EXPERTISE

• CMUT for medical imaging system design: FEM modeling and simulation
tools available;

• CMUT packaging and assembly processes and materials;

• Medical imaging ultrasound probe development;

• Analog electronic front-end circuits for CMUTs;

• Electrical and acoustic characterization of ultrasound transducers and

probes.
 20 years of ACULAB’s CMUT
1998 ACULAB starting activities in CMUT
1999 Mono-element transducers
2000 Sub-array 2003 64 elements probe – First echographic image
using a commercial scanner

2004 128 elements probe 2007 192 elements probe in Reverse®

technology
2009 High freq. 192 elements probe

2015 256 elements probe 7.5 MHz 2016 120+120 cris-cross

array
2018 256 elements Fermat
spiral 2D sparse array
 Aculab CMUT Technology
1998 Micro-fabricated mono-element (KOH) with Mylar membrane

1999-2000 Micro-fabricated mono-element and sub-array with nitride membranes

2004 Technology transfer in a small company (The Netherlands)

2005-2006 Reverse® technology

2007 Technology transfer in FBK (Trento, Italy)

 Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUT)

CMUTs are electro-acoustic MEMS transducers operating at ultrasonic frequencies (MHz).

Advantages

• Performance: broader frequency response, higher reception sensitivity, higher

thermal efficiency.

• Technology and materials: silicon microfabricated devices lead to higher suitability

for electronic integration (monolithic or hybrid), making die- and wafer-level
packaging processes adoptable; lead-free.

• Cost: lower especially for small-size devices for applications requiring large-scale
production quantities.
Physical principle

The cMUT is similar to a drum,

made in silicon. The mechanism
of actuation (the “drumsticks”) is
basically electrostatic. The
emitting “tone” depends both on
geometrical dimensions of the
drum, and on the stress applied
to the membrane itself.
The cMUT, as array element, is
made by hundreds of basic
“drums”, of very small
dimensions. They “sing”, in
unison, to have an high
“acoustic intensity”, to obtain
a suitable signal.
Basic structure and operating principle
 1/2 ACULAB Reverse Fabrication Process cMUTs: Process Flow
f) Sputtering of
a) Si Wafer + LPCVD Al-Ti-W bottom
SixNy layer electrode

b) Sputtering of g) Passivation and

Al-Ti-W top etching holes
electrode opening using RIE

c) Growth of a h) Etching of Cr
passivation layer sacrificial layer
of DF-PECVD SixNy (wet)

d) Thermal i) Growth of DF-

evaporation of Cr PECVD SixNy for
sacrificial islands cavity sealing and
definition of pads
for electrical
e) Growth of interconnection
passivation DF-
PECVD SixNy
2/2 ACULAB Reverse Fabrication Process cMUTs: Device packaging

a) Diced CMUT chip fabricated on silicon using RFP:

DICING the interconnection pads are on the rear part of
the MEMS device

BONDING b) Electrical interconnection of the cMUT to a PCB

using wire-bonding (flip-chip bonding can be
used to interconnect to an IC).

BACKING c) Casting of mechanical and acoustical backing

material that acts as a glob-top encapsulant
(and/or flip-chip underfill).

RELEASE d) CMUT device release using die-level chemical

etching of silicon substrate (HNA)

PROTECTION e) Application of a polymeric layer for protection

and acoustic matching.
ACULAB cMUTs

30 µm

10 mm
Development of a CMUT probe for medical diagnostic imaging
CMUT ultrasound probe-head
ACULAB’s recent results:
• Development of a 192-element 12 MHz CMUT probe
with embedded electronics (MAXIM);
• Medical Imaging system integration.

192-channel analog FE electronics

CMUT assembled probe

Integrated electronics development - Design by MAXIM ITALY
Octal High-Voltage-Protected, Low-Power, Low-Noise Operational Amplifiers
“Industry's First High Voltage-
MAX4805 Protected, Low-Noise Op Amp
MAX4805A for In-Probe Use in Ultrasound
Imaging Applications”
Ultra-Small ”Typical applications include
(5mm x 5mm) high-impedance piezoelectric
32-Pin TQFN transducers (PZT) and capacitive
micromachined ultrasonic
Package transducers (CMUT) in-probe
buffering and amplification”
http://www.maxim-ic.com

•I/O Protection for TX Burst Up to ±100V

•Extremely Low Power Dissipation 8mW/ch
•Low Voltage Noise 2.2nV/sqrt(Hz)
•Low Current Noise 1.7pA/sqrt(Hz)
•44MHz -3dB Bandwidth (typ)
State of the art
• B-MODE and doppler images;

• Tests on ESAOTE commercial scanner unit and on ULA-OP

research scanner unit (by University of Florence).
 Comparison with a commercial state-of-the-art piezoelectric probe

In-vivo B-MODE Imaging Pulse-echo measurement

Commercial ultrasound scanner Human carotid artery Time and frequency response
Comparison with a commercial state-of-the-art piezoelectric probe
performed at GE Healthcare facility in Nice (France)
Full 192-element array characterization
ACULAB ESAOTE
HF12 (cMUT) LA435 (PZT)

Center frequency (-6dB) 10.8 MHz 10.9 MHz

(% RSD) (1.5 %) (1.8 %)

Fractional bandwidth (-6dB) 103.9 % 70.1 %

(% RSD) (2.1 %) (3.2 %)

Amplitude % RSD
7.1 % 11.0 %
(@ center frequency)

Sensitivity @ 8.5 MHz -32.4 dB -41.7 dB

Sensitivity @ 10 MHz -31.4 dB -41.1 dB
Sensitivity @ 12 MHz -31.0 dB -41.2 dB
Recent CMUT Microfabrication Technology Improvements
Efficiency Optimization
• Modified metal layout avoiding superposition of the electrodes outside the
CMUT cavity (electrical interconnections)
• Reduction of the parasitic capacitance and consequent increase of the
electromechanical coupling coefficient
Recent CMUT Microfabrication Technology Improvements
Efficiency Optimization
• CMUT arrays were fabricated using classical and optimized electrode layouts
• Single element active capacitance, parasitic capacitance and electromechanical
coupling factor were estimated

Layout C0 [pF] Cp [pF] KT2

Not Optimized 8.9 15 0.28
Optimized 8.9 10 0.39
= -33 % +40 %
Recent CMUT Microfabrication Technology Improvements
Reliability Optimization
• Introduction of high quality SiO2 buffer layers deposited at room temperature by
electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) PECVD between the CMUT electrodes and the
SixNy in-cavity passivation layers
• Reduction of charge injection phenomena to limit charge trapping and breakdown
Recent CMUT Microfabrication Technology Improvements
Reliability Optimization
• Test capacitors to characterize the SiN with and without the buffer layers

Vbias->Vcol Vbias=Vcol Vbias=260 V

• Fabrication of CMUT arrays with and without the buffer layers (film thicknesses
adjusted to achieve the same collapse voltage ~170 V)
• Electrical impedance characterization at different bias voltages (0 V -> 260 V -> 0 V)
• Estimation of the capacitance and of the residual bias (charge trapping)
 Recent CMUT Microfabrication Technology Improvements
Reliability Optimization
• CMUT array element electrical characterization (Vbias : 0 V -> 260 V -> 0 V)

• Less hysteretic C-V characteristic and neglectable residual bias (charge trapping) after
deep CMUT collapse
Layout max{Re(Z)} Vr
[Ω] [V]
Not Optimized 12.4 16.4
Optimized 0.3 <1
Recent CMUT Microfabrication Technology Improvements
Equivalent circuit parameter fit from electrical impedance measurements
• Parasitic elements estimation
• Complete non-linear electrical characterization

Air-coupled CMUT array element

Experiment
Fit
 256-Element Linear Probe
CMUT Array
• Pitch = 200 µm (kerfless)
• Elevation = 5 mm
• -6dB center frequency = 7 MHz (100% FBW)
• Elevation focus = 18 mm

Integrated low-noise amplifiers Element Capacitance

• Impedance matching
Cഥ = 19.40 pF
• HV protection up to ± 100 V
RSDC = 1.78 %
• Power supply through cable
Resonance Frequency

fഥr = 11.70 MHz

RSDfr = 0.16 %
 256-Element Linear Probe – Performance Assessment
CMUT peak sensitivity
compared with commercial
piezo (ESAOTE LA523):
• TX: -2.5 dB
• RX: +11 dB

(Diffraction and LNA -3dB fc = 7.7 MHz , BW% = 85 % -3dB fhc = 9.7 MHz, BW% = 200 %
-3dB fc = 9.2 MHz , BW% = 56 % -3dB fhc = 9.9 MHz, BW% = 71 %
gain compensated)

Benchmarking
~2 Mpa pkpk
TX pressure • TX: larger bandwidth, slightly lower
with 160V pkpk sensitivity
excitation • RX: significantly higher sensitivity and
bandwidth (low frequencies)
• High TX pressure can be achieved by
driving at higher voltages
 256-Element Linear Probe – Imaging Assessment
Imaging setup
• ULA-OP 256 (University of Florence)
• CIRS 040GSE Phantom
• ± 45V , 7 MHz, 1-cycle bipolar excitation

Comparison with Humanscan (South Korea) 9LMQ 256-element linear probe

• Single crystal, same geometry
• -6dB 8.5MHz center frequency (85% FBW)
256-Element Linear Probe – Imaging Assessment
-6dB Axial Resolution (um)
CMUT PIEZO (9LMQ)

203 µm 567 µm

206 µm 453 µm

326 µm 507 µm

60 dB dynamic range
CMUT -32.1 dB PIEZO (9LMQ) -28.0 dB

60 dB dynamic range
120+120-Element 2D Crisscross Probe
CMUT Array
• Two orthogonal overlapped 1D arrays (RCA)
• Pitch = 110 µm (Kerfless)
• Elevation = 13.2 mm
• -6dB center frequency = 7 MHz (100% FBW)
• EU Pat. EP 1944070 A1, Jan. 2007
Cഥ = 27.22 pF
Element Capacitance X
RSDC = 2.05 %
Cഥ = 26.08 pF
Y
RSDC = 1.44 %

Resonance Frequency
fഥr = 12.03 MHz X
RSDfr = 0.92 %
fഥr = 12.01 MHz Y
RSDfr = 0.38 %
2D Crisscross Probe - Features
Integrated Electronics
• Low-noise amplifiers (impedance matching)
• HV protection up to ± 100 V
• All array elements are simultaneously and
individually accessible in TX and RX
4 main boards: CMUT + LNAs + CABLE + DB
Bias elevation pattern switching
• Enables real-time elevation aperture Fresnel
focusing/apodization
• High-voltage (up to ±300 V), high-speed
switching (<200 µs) of the bias voltage of each
array element between 0 and +HV or 0 and –HV
• Bias pattern statically re-configurable using
micro-jumpers

4 daughter boards: BIAS pattern configuration

 Mobile Ultrasound Imaging Platforms

(A) (B)

(C) (D)

Commercially available pocket-size devices from different vendors.

(A) Vscan™, GE Healthcare, Horten, Norway.
(B) Acuson P10™, Siemens Medical Solutions Inc. Malvern, PA, USA.
(C) MobiUS™ SP1, Mobisante, Inc., Redmond, WA, USA.
(D) Signos®, Signostics Ltd, Thebarton, Australia.
Mobile Ultrasound Imaging Platforms: BUTTERFLY

Images courtesy of
https://www.butterflynetwork.com
 CMUT Array Specifications
• 256-element density-tapered Fermat spiral layout
• -6dB center frequency = 7 MHz (100% FBW)
• 3D-integrated CMUT-ASIC module (200V pulsers,
LNAs, and TX beamformer)
Microfabrication and acoustically optimized packaging

Successful Multi-Chip
Module (MCM)
fabrication

Successful probe
head assembly
Conclusion
• Efficiency and reliability improved by convenient electrode
patterning and buffer layer introduction

• 256-element 1D linear probe characterization and imaging

assessment

• 120+120-element 2D crisscross probe with real-time elevation

bias pattern switching

• 256-element 2D sparse probe with 3D-integrated analog frontend

and programmable TX beamformer