In this study, we demonstrated a potential usability of a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) for a high-performance body-coupled ultrasonic imager based on an epitaxial lead zirconate titanate (Epi-PZT) thin film. A finger vessel biometrics was proposed as one of its applications. At first, transmitting abilities and receiving sensitivities of the single-element pMUT based on Epitaxial-PZT (Epi-PZT) and polycrystalline-PZT (Poly-PZT) were evaluated as a fundamental study. It was experimentally verified that the Epi-PZT was a preferable material for a higher performance pMUT. Then, the linear array driven by a commercially-available pulser board was constructed, and successfully formed a focused ultrasonic beam. Finally, we demonstrated the ultrasonic imaging of a polydimethylsiloxane-based phantom by using the Epi-PZT pMUT array. We believe this achievement is a great step to realize the finger vessel biometric by pMUT.

在这项研究中，我们证明了基于外延钛酸锆钛酸铅（Epi-PZT）薄膜的压电微机械超声换能器（pMUT）对于高性能人体耦合超声成像仪的潜在可用性。手指血管生物识别技术被提出作为其应用之一。首先，对基于外延-PZT（Epi-PZT）和多晶-PZT（Poly-PZT）的单元素pMUT的发射能力和接收灵敏度进行了评估。实验证明，Epi-PZT是用于高性能pMUT的优选材料。然后，构造了由市售脉冲板驱动的线性阵列，并成功地形成了聚焦超声束。最后，我们通过使用Epi-PZT pMUT阵列演示了基于聚二甲基硅氧烷的体模的超声成像。我们相信，这项成就是通过pMUT实现手指血管生物测定的重要一步。