Acoustic Coupling in Capacitive Microfabricated Ultrasonic Transducers: Modeling and Experiments

In the design of low-frequency transducer arrays for active sonar systems, the acoustic interactions that occur between the transducer elements have received much attention. Because of these interactions, the acoustic loading on each transducer depends on its position in the array, and the radiated acoustic power may vary considerably from one element to another. Capacitive microfabricated ultrasonic transducers (CMUT) are made of a two-dimensional array of metallized micromembranes, all electrically connected in parallel, and driven into flexural motion by the electrostatic force produced by an applied voltage. The mechanical impedance of these membranes is typically much lower than the acoustic impedance of water. In our investigations of acoustic coupling in CMUTs, interaction effects between the membranes in immersion were observed, similar to those reported in sonar arrays. Because CMUTs have many promising applications in the field of medical ultrasound imaging, understanding of cross-coupling mechanisms and acoustic interaction effects is especially important for reducing cross-talk between array elements, which can produce artifacts and degrade image quality. In this paper, we report a finite-element study of acoustic interactions in CMUTs and experimental results obtained by laser interferometry measurements. The good agreement found between finite element modeling (FEM) results and optical displacement measurements demonstrates that acoustic interactions through the liquid represent a major source of cross coupling in CMUTs.