MAE Seminar: “From CMUTs to CPUTs: Micromachined Capacitive Ultrasound Transducers for Imaging and Sensing”

Abstract:

It has been nearly 30 years since the introduction of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUTs). Although initially considered for in air ultrasonic applications for non-destructive testing, CMUTs have found their place in medical imaging mostly due to the advantages in electronics integration for large 2D arrays and miniaturized systems. Large 2D arrays with integrated CMOS electronics (CMUT-on-CMOS) enabled low cost handheld ultrasound systems with 3D imaging capability, whereas miniaturization enabled catheter-based imaging for applications like volumetric intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging. More recently, we have been investigating a new concept, Capacitive Parametric Ultrasonic Transducer (CPUT), which uses micromachined capacitors as part of a parametric resonance-based structure that operates without a need for DC bias. CPUT structures provide more flexible designs for parametric resonance enhanced transduction as their response can be controlled by electrical components. CPUTs can be driven into resonance with both electrical and mechanical inputs leading to a large array of sensing applications. In this talk, we will briefly discuss the CMUT technology and then focus on our work on high frequency CMUT-on-CMOS IVUS devices operating in the 20-50MHz range. In the second part of the talk, we will describe CPUTs with examples on auto-parametric damping of MEMS sensors, acoustic sensors with improved directivity and phononic frequency comb generation with potential applications in sensors.

Tune in Friday, September 16, 2022 at 10 a.m. to watch live. 

Bio:

F. Levent Degertekin received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering 1997 from Stanford University, CA. He currently holds the G.W. Woodruff Chair in Mechanical Systems, and is a Professor at the G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, GA. His research interests have been in micromachined ultrasonic and opto-acoustic devices, integrated systems for medical ultrasound imaging, bioanalytical instrumentation, and atomic force microscopy. He has authored over 60 U.S. patents and over 140 journal publications in these research areas. Technologies developed in his lab have been transferred to several successful startup companies.

Dr. Degertekin is an IEEE Fellow. He was an associate editor for the IEEE Sensors Journal and the IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control. Dr. Degertekin has received an NSF CAREER award for his work on ultrasonic atomic force microscopy in 2004, the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control (UFFC) Society 2004 Outstanding Paper award and the inaugural IEEE UFFC Society 2014 Carl Hellmuth Hertz Ultrasonic Achievement Award.