Acoustic Doppler velocity measurement system using capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer array technology

This paper describes the design, fabrication, modeling, and characterization of a small (1 cm(2) transducer chip) acoustic Doppler velocity measurement system using microelectromechanical systems capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (cMUT) array technology. The cMUT sensor has a 185 kHz resonant frequency to achieve a 13° beam width for a 1 cm aperture. A model for the cMUT and the acoustic system which includes electrical, mechanical, and acoustic components is provided. Furthermore, this paper shows characterization of the cMUT sensor with a variety of testing procedures including Laser Doppler Vibrometry (LDV), beampattern measurement, reflection testing, and velocity testing. LDV measurements demonstrate that the membrane displacement at the center point is 0.4 nm/V(2) at 185 kHz. The maximum range of the sensor is 60 cm (30 cm out and 30 cm back). A velocity sled was constructed and used to demonstrate measureable Doppler shifts at velocities from 0.2 to 1.0 m/s. The Doppler shifts agree well with the expected frequency shifts over this range.