MEMS material selection

Materials selection is essential for efficient

design
of
microelectromechanical
systems(MEMS).
For MEMS designers, one of the key jobs for
achieving the high level of reliability, low
unit cost and optimal function performance
of microelectromechanical devices is to
carefully choose materials from a limited
set.

Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers(CMUT)isarelatively

newconceptinthefieldofultrasonictransducers.Mostofthecommercial
ultrasonictransducerstodayarebasedonpiezoelectricity.
CMUTsarethetransducerswheretheenergytransductionisduetochangein
capacitance.CMUTsareconstructedonsiliconusingmicromachiningtechnique.
Acavityisformedinasiliconsubstrate,andathinlayersuspendedonthetop
ofthecavityservesasamembraneonwhichametallizedlayeractsan
electrode,togetherwiththesiliconsubstratewhichservesasabottom
electrode.
IfanACsignalisappliedacrossthebiasedelectrodes,thevibratingmembrane
willproduceultrasonicwavesinthemediumofinterest.Inthiswayitworksas
atransmitter.
Ontheotherhand,ifultrasonicwavesareappliedonthemembranceofbiased
CMUT,itwillgeneratealternatingsignalasthecapacitanceoftheCMUTis
varied.Inthisway,itworksasareceiverofultrasonicwaves