31-mode piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer with PZT thick film by granule spraying in vacuum process

A piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) is an ideal device for portable medical diagnosis systems, intravascular ultrasound systems, and ultrasonic cameras because of its favorable characteristics including small size, acoustic impedance matching with the body, low power consumption, and simple integration with the systems. Despite these advantages, practical applications are limited because of insufficient acoustic pressure of the pMUT caused by the thin active piezoelectric layer. Here, we report the fabrication of a thick piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) film-based pMUT device having high deflection at low driving voltage using the granule spraying in vacuum (GSV) process. Pre-patterned high-density thick (exceeding 8 μm) PZT films were grown on 6-inch-diameter Si/SiO2/Ti/Pt silicon-on-insulator wafers at room temperature at a high deposition rate of ∼5 μm min−1. The fabrication process using the proposed GSV process was simple and fast, and the deflection of the pMUT exhibited a high...