Screen printed thick film based pMUT arrays

This article reports on the fabrication and characterization of lambda-pitched piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (pMUT) arrays fabricated using a unique process combining conventional silicon technology and low cost screen printing of thick film PZT. The pMUTs are designed as 8 element membrane based devices dimensioned to operate in bending mode in the 1-10 MHz regime. The devices are characterized using impedance measurements as well as acoustic pulse echo measurements. The characterization showed resonance frequencies for the bending mode around 6-8 MHz.