Simulation and Optimization of Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer Unit Based on AlN

Abstract

The relatively low piezoelectric constant of aluminum nitride (AlN) piezoelectric film limits the development and application of the acoustic field performance of AlN-based micromachined ultrasonic transducers; thus, in this study we establish a mid- to low-frequency transducer unit model to address this problem. The transducer operates at 4.5 MHz, and the construction of a clamped structure is first investigated to ensure the feasibility of performance analysis. Secondly, the effectiveness of the optimized upper electrode distribution proposed in this paper in improving the acoustic field radiation of the array element is also compared with the original structure. Finally, the influence of the optimized electrode geometry parameters on the acoustic wave direction is analyzed. The finite element simulations are performed in the COMSOL Multiphysics (COMSOL) software and post-processing results are analyzed. Based on the simulation results, the proposed optimal distribution of the upper electrode makes the radiation beam uniform and symmetrical in the case of both the clamped model and the optimized structure model. In the case of the upper electrode radius of 28 µm, this electrode division operation makes the unit vibration mode switching in the frequency range more moderate. The sound field radiation improvement of the proposed optimized structure model is better than that of the clamped structure.