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Short-range and high-resolution ultrasound imaging using an 8 MHz

Aluminum Nitride PMUT array

Conference Paper  in  Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) · February 2015
DOI: 10.1109/MEMSYS.2015.7050905

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 SHORT-RANGE AND HIGH-RESOLUTION ULTRASOUND IMAGING
USING AN 8 MHZ ALUMINUM NITRIDE PMUT ARRAY
Yipeng Lu1, Hao-Yen Tang2, Stephanie Fung1, Bernhard E. Boser2 and David A. Horsley1
Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center
1
University of California, Davis, USA
2
University of California, Berkeley, USA

ABSTRACT per unit area. However, reported PMUTs have large

Ultrasound imaging uses costly bulk piezoelectric
transducers and high voltage (200V+) electronics. Low-
cost and low-voltage ultrasound transducers would enable
many new applications in healthcare, biometrics, and
personal health-monitoring. Here, we demonstrated short-
range (~mm) and high-resolution (<100 µm) imaging
based on piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic
transducers (PMUTs) and a 1.8 V interface ASIC. The
PMUTs use piezoelectric Aluminum Nitride (AlN), which
has the advantages of low-temperature (<400 °C)
deposition and compatibility with CMOS fabrication but
has a relatively low piezoelectric constant (e31=-0.5
C/m2), making detection of ultrasound signals from tiny
(50 µm) PMUTs a challenging task. To solve this
problem, we developed an ASIC with a low-noise analog
front-end pre-amplifier that is impedance matched to the
PMUT. Furthermore, a novel beam-forming and scanning
method was demonstrated to achieve a sub-100µm focus
size and 70 µm scanning step. Pressure map measurement
from phased PMUT array and pulse echo imaging results
were demonstrated using 1-D and 2-D phantoms.
INTRODUCTION
Ultrasonic transducers have been used in many
applications and famous for nondestructive testing (NDT)
and medical imaging. Conventional ultrasonic transducers
are largely based on bulk piezoelectric ceramic with poor
acoustic coupling to air or liquids, and additional
matching layer is required. In contrast, micromachined
ultrasonic transducers (MUTs) have a compliant
membrane structure with low acoustic impedance for
good coupling to air and liquids. Compared with well-
developed capacitive MUTs (CMUTs), PMUTs [1] do not
require a high polarization voltage and small gap [2], and
thereby reduce circuit and fabrication complexity.
Previous research on PMUT pulse-echo imaging was
based on lead zirconium titanate (PZT) [3-4], a material
with high piezoelectric coefficients and high relative
permittivity, which make the receiving amplifier easier to
design and remote electronics feasible. Relative to PZT,
AlN is lead-free and is compatible with CMOS
fabrication, making it attractive for highly integrated, low-
cost PMUT arrays. However, AlN has lower piezoelectric
coefficients and low relative permittivity, which result in
PMUTs with lower pressure sensitivity in transmitting
and lower charge output in receiving. Therefore AlN
PMUTs make ultrasound pulse-echo detection more
challenging and require a low-noise and impedance-
matched local pre-amplifier.
In addition, high fill-factor PMUT arrays are needed
to minimize grating lobes and increase acoustic efficiency
dimensions and pitch and therefore low fill-factor; this
results from fabrication using through-wafer etching [5].
Front-side etching using a sacrificial layer and etch holes
has been used to make a high fill-factor PMUT array,
demonstrated in MEMS-2014 [6], but required a
complicated multi-layer fabrication process and an
additional layer to seal the etch holes after the release
etch. PMUTs based on cavity SOI wafers have the
advantages of a simple fabrication process and a high fill-
factor, with device characterization first demonstrated in
Hilton-Head-2014 [7], and integrated circuit details and
tissue-phantom imaging demonstration to appear [8].
Here, we show for the first time short-range and high-
resolution imaging using fluid-immersed AlN PMUTs.
DESIGN
A focused, narrow acoustic beam is essential for high
resolution, pulse-echo ultrasound imaging. When using a
single ultrasound transducer, two methods can be used to
obtain a narrow acoustic beam: higher working frequency
and larger PMUT dimensions [9]. Calculated acoustic
beam patterns at a distance 1.5 mm from a single 50 µm
diameter PMUT with various working frequencies are
shown in Figure 1. The results show that ~400 MHz
working frequency is required to achieve sub-100 µm
beam-width. Achieving such a high frequency requires a
PMUT working in thickness mode rather than flexural
mode, resulting in poor acoustic impedance matching to
fluid and tissue. In addition, higher working frequency
will result in much greater acoustic attenuation in these
media.
Figure 1: Calculated beam patterns at 1.5 mm away from
a single PMUT. A 100 µm -6dB beam-width occurs at
400 MHz.

978-1-4799-7955-4/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE 140 MEMS 2015, Estoril, PORTUGAL, 18 - 22 January, 2015

Cavity
50 µm
Top electrode
70 µm 1mm
Figure 2: Optical images of a 72×9 PMUT array.
Here, rather than using a single high-frequency
transducer, we use an 8 MHz phased array to achieve
narrow acoustic beam-width. Optical images of the 72×9
PMUT array are shown in Figure 2. The array, composed
of 50 µm diameter PMUTs with 70 µm pitch, was
fabricated using cavity SOI wafers [7]. The 9 PMUTs in
each column are connected together. Phased-array beam-
forming is conducted using groups of transducers that are
fewer than the whole 72-column array. Figure 3 shows
calculated acoustic beam patterns for a 15-column group
with various beam-forming pitches. The array’s acoustic
beam-width at 1.5 mm away from the array narrows with
increasing PMUT pitch (70 µm, 140 µm, 210 µm)
because the aperture of the array is increased. Conversely,
a small pixel is required for high resolution ultrasonic
imaging, and achieving high fill-factor requires
minimizing the PMUT pitch. To satisfy both of these
objectives, a novel beam-forming and scanning method
was developed, as shown in Figure 4. High fill-factor is
achieved through a small 70 µm PMUT pitch, and a
narrow beam-width is achieved by using a beam-forming
Figure 3: Beam-forming PMUT array is used to achieve
narrow acoustic beam at lower frequency, 8 MHz, where
low acoustic attenuation makes the beam-forming array
favorable.
141
Scan step
Focus size
Beam forming
pitch
PMUT PMUT pitch
Figure 4: Beamforming using groups. The beam-forming
pitch is shown as twice the PMUT pitch but may be any
integer multiple. The focused spot is translated by
switching from the 1st group of odd-numbered PMUTs
(blue) to the 2nd group of even numbered PMUTs (red).
The scan step is equal to the PMUT pitch.
pitch that is an integer multiple of the PMUT pitch,
thereby achieving a larger aperture from a small group of
PMUTs. The focused beam can be scanned by
sequentially switching between groups with a small step
size that is defined by the PMUT pitch. As illustrated in
Figure 4, the phase delays within a group are symmetric;
this allows an N-channel amplifier to drive a group
containing 2N-1 columns of PMUTs. In experiments,
amplifiers with N = 7 and N = 8 channels were used,
corresponding to 13-column and 15-column PMUT
groups.
EXPERIMENT RESULTS
Ultrasound experiments were conducted with the
array immersed in a fluid (Fluorinert FC-70, 3M) that has
similar acoustic impedance with that of human tissue (Z =
~1.5 MRayls) and high electrical resistance to eliminate
the need to insulate the wire-bonds and pads. A needle
hydrophone with 40 µm effective diameter (Precision
Figure 5: Measured pressure from a 15-column PMUT
group (70 µm beam-forming pitch) with and without
beam-forming control.

Figure 6: 8 MHz transmit pressure measured using a
hydrophone laterally scanned at a distance 1.5 mm from
the array surface.
Acoustics) was used to measure the acoustic pressure
from a 15-column group of PMUTs driven with 2-cycles
of 8-MHz 18 Vpp pulses. Shown in Figure 5, the
measurement results demonstrate that beam-forming
increases the pressure amplitude to 80 kPa peak-to-peak,
~2.5× the pressure produced from the same PMUT group
without beam-forming (all PMUTs driven with the same
phase delay). Furthermore, beam-forming results in a
short acoustic pulse, <0.5 µs, corresponding to ~200 µm
axial pulse-echo imaging resolution.
Figure 8: System diagram of pulse-echo imaging using
AlN cavity SOI PMUT array and 1.8V 180 nm CMOS
ASIC interface [8].
measured in the x-z plane (x is the lateral dimension and z
is the axial dimension) is shown in Figure 7. The focused
beam demonstrates ~0.4 mm depth-of-focus, which is
suitable for many imaging applications.
Pulse-echo imaging was conducted using a custom
1.8V 7-channel interface ASIC [8]. Figure 8 shows the
system diagram. Because the capacitance of the 9 AlN
PMUTs in each column is low (~pF, including bond
pads), a low-power on-chip 32V charge pump is capable
600
400 Pulse echo
Pulse echo (mV)

Envelope
The acoustic pressure patterns of a 15-column group 200
with 70 µm and 140 µm beam-forming pitch were
measured using the needle hydrophone, as shown in 0
Figure 6. The beam-forming phase increments were
selected to focus the beam 1.5 mm away from the array.
-200
In agreement with simulation results shown in Figure 3,
larger beam-forming pitch, 140 µm, results in reduced
peak pressure from 80 kPa to 70 kPa, but narrower beam-
-400
width, from 200 µm to 90 µm diameter. Using 140 µm
beam-forming pitch, the 2-D acoustic pressure field -600
4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Time (s)
(a)

(b)
Figure 7: 8 MHz transmit pressure measured using a Figure 9: 1D B-scan pulse-echo imaging of a tilted
hydrophone; 2-D acoustic pressure pattern in x-z plane steel phantom: (a) time-domain plot of received echo
(PMUT array in x-y plane). signal; (b) imaging result.

142

(a)
(b)
Figure 10: (a) Steel phantom and (b) C-scan pulse echo
image.
of providing sufficient output current to drive a 15-
column PMUT group. Imaging experiments were
conducted using fluid-immersed steel phantom targets
patterned via laser cutting. While 15-columns are used to
transmit a focused beam, the echoes were received using a
single column of PMUTs in the middle of the transmitting
group for simpler signal process. If all received signals
from the 15 columns of PMUTs are collected and
processed, receiving beam-forming can be used to achieve
higher SNR and imaging resolution. Since the 72×9
PMUT array is only 5 mm × 0.6 mm big, it is too small to
image a large 10 mm × 10 mm phantom using electronic
scanning. Instead, mechanical scanning was used to
demonstrate the imaging performance. Figure 9(a) shows
the pulse-echo time response resulting from a steel
phantom ~2 mm away from the array. The second
acoustic echo is also clearly observed in the time
response. Figure 9(b) shows the B-scan image constructed
from a lateral scan of this phantom. Figure 10 shows a
high-resolution (<100 µm) C-scan image of a 2-D steel
phantom, which demonstrates the feasibility for short-
range and high-resolution imaging using AlN PMUTs.
CONCLUSION
This work shows that AlN PMUT arrays are suitable
for ultrasound imaging. A method was demonstrated to
produce a small 90 µm diameter focused beam using a
group of PMUTs with a beam-forming pitch that is twice
the PMUT pitch. This method was used to produce high-
resolution pulse-echo images. Because AlN MEMS
devices are already in mass production, AlN PMUTs can
be easily commercialized. However, until now, most work
has focused on PZT PMUTs, since they produce much
higher signal levels than AlN PMUTs. Here, we
demonstrated that an AlN PMUT array, combined with a
143
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local custom interface ASIC, can produce high resolution
ultrasound images. Because the ASIC is close to the
PMUT array, rather than remotely connected through
cables, parasitic capacitance is reduced, resulting in
higher signal-to-noise ratio. Additionally, the fact that
AlN has low dielectric constant means that lower input
currents are needed to drive the array, and a 1.8V to 32V
on-chip charge-pump provided sufficient power for this
purpose.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank the UC Berkeley Marvell
Nanofabrication Laboratory for device fabrication, and
Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC) Industrial
Members for financial support.
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CONTACT
*Yipeng Lu, tel: +1-530-752-5180; yplu@ucdavis.edu.