Enhancing AlN PMUTs' Acoustic Responsivity within a MEMS-on-CMOS Process

In this paper, guidelines for the optimization of piezoelectrical micromachined ultrasound transducers (PMUTs) monolithically integrated over a CMOS technology are developed. Higher acoustic pressure is produced by PMUTs with a thin layer of AlN piezoelectrical material and Si₃N₄ as a passive layer, as is studied here with finite element modeling (FEM) simulations and experimental characterization. Due to the thin layers used, parameters such as residual stress become relevant as they produce a buckled structure. It has been reported that the buckling of the membrane due to residual stress, in general, reduces the coupling factor and consequently degrades the efficiency of the acoustic pressure production. In this paper, we show that this buckling can be beneficial and that the fabricated PMUTs exhibit enhanced performance depending on the placement of the electrodes. This behavior was demonstrated experimentally and through FEM. The acoustic characterization of the fabricated PMUTs shows the enhancement of the PMUT performance as a transmitter (with 5 kPa V^-1 surface pressure for a single PMUT) and as a receiver (12.5 V MPa^-1) in comparison with previously reported devices using the same MEMS-on-CMOS technology as well as state-of-the-art devices.