2017 IEEE 15th Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD) 158

D33 Mode Based Piezoelectric Micromachined

Ultrasonic Transducers
K.A. Ahmad
Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Universiti Teknologi MARA
Cawangan Pulau Pinang
Pulau Pinang, MALAYSIA
azman062@ppinang.uitm.edu.my
N Abdullah A.A. Manaf
School of Electrical & Electronic Collaborative Microelectronic Design
Engineering, Excellence Centre (CEDEC)
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Sains@USM, Level 1, Block C, No.10
Campus, Persiaran Bukit Jambul, 11900
Seberang Perai Selatan, Nibong Tebal, Bayan Lepas,
Penang, MALAYSIA Pulau Pinang, MALAYSIA.

Abstract—Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic
Transducer (PMUT) is an acoustic transducer used in application
of medical diagnostic, medical imaging and underwater imaging.
The design concept of conventional PMUT is based on sandwich
piezoelectric between two electrodes. This is based on d31 mode
polarization PMUT and the sensitivity is depend on thickness of
piezoelectric and flexural deformation of membrane. The d33 mode
polarization design concept is normally applied in energy
harvester. This concept will increased the energy. This paper will
present D33 mode based Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic
Transducers to increase the sensitivity. Polyimide (PI) is used as
membrane and substrate and dielectric help to increase the
sensitivity. Pulse-Echo method is an experimental method to
characterize the receiving sensitivity. The simulation on PMUT
design to see the peak displacement of PMUT and it will be
represented as resonance frequency occurred in collecting
receiving signal. The PMUT device has more receiving sensitivity
compared to conventional hydrophone and it is shows in result.
The receiving sensitivity achieved by PMUT is -64.44 dB re
1V/uPa. The fractional bandwidth for PMUT is 28%. The
operational bandwidth is needed to be improve for future design.
Keywords—D33 mode Polarization, Polyimide Membrane,
Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer, Underwater
Imaging.
I. INTRODUCTION
Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer
(PMUT) is used in many applications such as medical
diagnostic, medical acoustic imaging and underwater imaging.
PMUT is based on piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer. The
performance of conventional piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer
(PUT) is based on a matching layer, thickness of a piezoelectric
material as sensing element, and backing layer. The
methodology of PUT is the sensing element, piezoelectric
material sandwiched in between of electrodes. The matching
layer and backing layer are expended the operation bandwidth.
But, PUT is still limited in size and bandwidth. Then
piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) is
fabricated in micrometer scale using micromachined
fabrication technique.[1].
Almost all recent studies on PMUT are based on concept a
piezoelectric sandwiched with two electrodes. The
conventional PMUT is low in sensitivity. The investigation on
thin film [2], flexural membrane, and density of membrane are
purposely to increase the sensitivity. The d33 mode based
PMUT is well known in energy harvesting[3]. The d33 mode
concept will increased energy in piezoelectric material. Thus it
will increased sensitivity. Interdigital Electrodes (IDE) is very
famous design used in energy harvesting. Some are used in
transmitting and receiving ultrasonic wave[4]. The square IDE
will used stresses in the diaphragm to improve sensitivity and
device capacitance [5]. Thin film is studied on IDE based
PMUT, where IDE was fabricated on top and bottom side of
Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT)[2]. The deformation of this
technique is low because they have contradiction polarization
on top and bottom side, and gave low deformation. Radial Field
Diaphragm piezoelectric actuator with Inter-Circulating
Electrodes (ICE-RFD) is comprised of a thin circular
piezoelectric ceramic disk sandwiched between two polyimide
(PI) acting as dielectric films with copper-etched spiral
electrodes. The novel electrode pattern induces an electric field
into the piezo-ceramic that extends out radially from the center
of the wafer[6]. The diaphragm bearing the spiral electrode
operate in d33 mode, which allows the in-plane deformation of
the diaphragm to be converted to the out-of-plane deformation
and generates an acoustic wave in the same direction[7].
In next section, theory of d33 mode polarization will
discussed, in section 3, the design of d33 mode based PMUT
will presented, in section 4, the fabrication of PMUT will
presented, in section 5, the experimental setup will presented,
result and discussion will explained in section 6 and last section,
conclusion will presented.
II. THEORY OF D33 MODE POLARIZATION
D33 mode PMUT polarization is achieved by polarization a
piezoelectric material with a DC-voltage applied to positive
electrode and generated the electric field. If no external pressure
on piezoelectric material, the polarization is scattered in
piezoelectric material. When an external ultrasonic wave
pressure is perpendicularly applied on membrane, stresses are
 2017 IEEE 15th Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD) 159

induced in a piezoelectric material. The schematic of d33 mode Q D

polarization is shown in Fig 1. V   3G (4)
C 
From equation 4, it is shows that an induced voltage depended
on how much the gap between two conductors. The receiving
transducer sensitivity is depended the highest voltage produced
at particular frequency.
III. DESIGN D33 MODE PMUT

The schematic design of d33 mode PMUT is shows in Fig 2.

Copper, Cu

PDMS
PZT

Polyimide

(a)
Fig 1. Schematic of d33 mode polarization, (a) before membrane hit by
an acoustic wave pressure, (b) after membrane hit by an acoustic wave
pressure.

Refer to Fig. 1, an electric field, E, together with an electric

displacement, D, and a polarization vector between positive
electrode and negative electrode are parallel to the main plane
and along x3 axis. The stressed in the x3 axis will lead a charges
in electrodes and this is called a transducer worked in d33 mode.
The piezoelectricity constitutive equation can be represent
in Equation 1.
D3  d 33 S 3 (1)

Where D3 is represented electrical displacement in x3 axis, d33 (b)

is a piezoelectric coefficient of a piezoelectric material, and S3
is stresses occurred in a piezoelectric material. If thickness of
Fig 2. Schematic design of d33 mode PMUT, a) side view PMUT, b)
piezoelectric element is much less compared to distance top view of flexible circuit only
between electrodes, the electric field, E beneath in the positive
electrodes is almost belong to horizontal component of the The sensing element, PZT5H is adhered on top of electrodes,
electrical displacement, D3 between two electrodes. The Cu shows in Fig 2(a). The flexible circuit is consist of positive
capacitance of the two electrodes can be calculated using and ground electrode arranged as d33 mode structure. The
Gevorgian’s model[8], but it is complicated and inconvenient. electrical pad will pull out the electric field beneath under
This model is simplified and device capacitance will calculated positive electrode and read out by oscilloscope. The
as a parallel plate capacitor by introducing an effective area, Ae, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on top of PZT5H will covered
which is defined as the equipotential area on which the electric part of an electrical circuit to prevent it conducted with water
field vectors act perpendicularly. Then the equation for device and functioning as matching layer as well. The parameter such
capacitance can be approximated by as width, length and thickness for sensing element, PDMS,
copper, Cu and flexible circuit are shown in Table 1.
Ae w*l
C   (2) TABLE 1. MATERIAL PARAMETER FOR PMUT DEVICE
G G
Parameter
where ԑ denoted a permittivity of piezoelectric material, Material Length Thickness
Width (mm)
(mm) (mm)
Ae denoted the affective area, w is width of electrode, l is Electrodes, Cu 0.5 0.5 0.033
length of electrode, and G is gap between two electrodes. PZT5H 1.5 3.5 0.2
The electric charges, Q is induced on electrodes can be PDMS 7 7.5 0.1
obtained from the electrical displacement, D3 and Flexible Circuit 10 10 0.16
effective electrode area,
Q  D3 Ae (3) IV. FABRICATION

Consequently, the induced voltage is given by Firstly, the Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is prepared using
Sylgard 184 Silicone Elastomer Kit. Then placed PDMS in
 2017 IEEE 15th Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD)
vacuum chamber at pressure, 200 mbar to remove the bubbles
in PDMS. Then put a small spoon of PDMS on top of flexible
circuit that consist of electrodes. Then the flexible circuit was
placed on spin coater handle. Run the spin coater at 3000rpm to
obtain the thickness of PDMS at 10µm. The PDMS on top of
flexible circuit is adhered to sensing element, PZT5H. Before
adhered between them, the PDMS on top of electrodes and
electrical pad is removed to prevent no conductivity between
electrodes and PZT5H. It will removed using sand paper. Then
the PZT5H with flexible circuit were place in oven about 8
hours at 40ºC. The flexible circuit is shows in Fig 3.
Fig 3. Flexible Circuit
Then again, put a small spoon of PDMS and placed on top
of PZT5H that already attached together with flexible circuit
and placed on spin coater. The spin coater is set up at 700rpm
in 30s and 400rpm in 20s to obtain the thickness of PDMS at
100um. Then the PMUT was placed in oven at 8 hours with
30ºC. The spin coater and oven are shows in Fig 4(a) and Fig
4(b) respectively. The fabricated PMUT is shows in Fig 4(c).
(a) (b)
(c)
Fig 4. Fabrication equipment and PMUT Device, a) spin coater, b)
oven, c) fabricated PMUT
160
V. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Digital
Oscilloscope
Digital
Oscilloscope Laptop
Pulse
Performed
Network
output
Hz
input Pulse Performed
Network
Function
Function
generator
Generator
projector
pmut
Test Tank
Test Tank
(b)
(a)
Fig 5. Pulse-Echo Experimental Method, a) experimental field, b)
schematic diagram.
The performance of PMUT device is characterized by pulse-
echo experimental method. Pulse-echo experimental method is
determined the performances of transducer for underwater
applications. The sensitivity, resonance frequency and
bandwidth can be analysed. The setup of pulse-echo
experimental method is shown in Fig 5.
Water test tank with 760 mm × 360 mm × 380 mm size is a
place to test PMUT in underwater. Function generator (Hameg
HM-8150) and pulse forming network (PFN) are worked
together to produce a pulse signal. Projector (UNDT-500 kHz,
Technotronics Industries, Delhi) is supplied an acoustic wave
in pulse signal form in water. PMUT is then converted an
acoustic signal to electrical signal form. The digital
oscilloscope (PicoScope 2204, 10 MHz of Pico Technologies,
Inc) is collected data and save it to computer.
VI. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer was
designed based on d33 mode of actuation by employing
electrodes in-plane arrangement. This concept will improved
the transducer’s receiving sensitivity. The displacement of
PMUT’s membrane is shows in Fig 6. There are three times
peak values or highest displacement occurred at frequency
500kHz, 625kHz and 1150kHz.
The experimental result for pulse-echo method is shows in
Fig 7. The result is shows the PMUT has higher scale in dB
compared to conventional hydrophone. The dotted line is shows
the result for conventional hydrophone that having in the
market. The resonance for PMUT is achieved at frequency
450kHz, 625kHz and 1300kHz. PMUT will be worked at
various frequency from range 450kHz to 1300kHz. The
receiving sensitivity for PMUT is -64.44 dB re 1V/uPa. If the
transducer is selected working at 450 kHz, so the the PMUT has
a bandwidth of 225 kHz with center frequency at 850 kHz will
have fractional bandwidth of 28%. The transducer need to
improve in term of operation bandwidth.
 2017 IEEE 15th Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD) 161

[4] T. L. Ren et al., “Micromachined piezoelectric acoustic device,” in 2009

2nd International Workshop on Electron Devices and Semiconductor
Technology, 2009, pp. 1–6.
[5] C. Wang et al., “A Micromachined Piezoelectric Ultrasonic Transducer
Operating in d33 Mode Using Square Interdigital Electrodes,” IEEE Sens.
J., vol. 7, no. 7, pp. 967–976, Jul. 2007.
[6] Robert G. Bryant, Robert T. Effinger, Isaiah Aranda, Ben M. Copeland,
and Ed W. Covington, “Active piezoelectric diaphragms,” 2002, vol.
4699, pp. 4699–12.
[7] Z. Shen, J. Lu, C. W. Tan, J. Miao, and Z. Wang, “d33 mode piezoelectric
diaphragm based acoustic transducer with high sensitivity,” Sens.
Actuators Phys., vol. 189, pp. 93–99, Jan. 2013.
[8] S. S. Gevorgian, T. Martinsson, P. L. J. Linner, and E. L. Kollberg, “CAD
models for multilayered substrate interdigital capacitors,” IEEE Trans.
Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 44, no. 6, pp. 896–904, Jun. 1996.

Fig 6. Displacement of Membrane

Fig 7. Pulse-Echo Experimental Result

VII. CONCLUSSION

Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer is design

based on d33 mode electrodes in-plane arrangement. The
transducer is successfully designed, fabricated and testing. It
was fabricated started from PDMS preparation, adhered PZT5H
with flexible circuit and lastly, spin coated PDMS layer using
spin-coater. PMUT was tested using pulse-echo experimental
method. The result is shows that PMUT device has more
receiving sensitivity compared to conventional hydrophone.
The receiving sensitivity achieved by PMUT is -64.44 dB re
1V/uPa. The fractional bandwidth for PMUT is 28%. The
operational bandwidth is needed to be improve for future
design.
REFERENCES
[1] Q. Zhou, K. H. Lam, H. Zheng, W. Qiu, and K. K. Shung, “Piezoelectric
single crystal ultrasonic transducers for biomedical applications,” Prog.
Mater. Sci., vol. 66, pp. 87–111, Oct. 2014.
[2] Z. Wang, J. Miao, C. W. Tan, and T. Xu, “Fabrication of piezoelectric
MEMS devices-from thin film to bulk PZT wafer,” J. Electroceramics,
vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 25–32, Feb. 2010.
[3] J. C. Park, D. H. Lee, J. Y. Park, Y. S. Chang, and Y. P. Lee, “High
performance piezoelectric MEMS energy harvester based on D33 mode
of PZT thin film on buffer-layer with PBTIO3 inter-layer,” in
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Actuators and Microsystems Conference, 2009, pp. 517–520.