Simulation and investigation of Si-based piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) performances

Micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) based piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers for acoustic imaging of the surroundings are known as piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs). This research proposes a structural design of the PMUT with four fixed-guided beams. The beam is subjected to lateral loads, with vectors that are perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. This project simulated Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (PMUT) with three different material properties i.e. Aluminium Nitride (AlN), Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and Zinc Oxide (ZnO). Based on the study, it was found that reducing the beam dimensions and increasing the plate size will result in the first mode frequency reduction from 1.33x107 Hz to 3.74x106 Hz. Other than that, it was found that AlN PMUT experienced the maximum deflection of 6.3413 to 6.3478 μm when the loads applied in the range of 50 to 200 μN/m2. When the piezoelectric material changed to PZT, we obtained the maximum deflections of 0.3771 to 0.3786 μm when the same loads range applied to the PMUT. As for the ZnO PMUT, the maximum deflections obtained were in between 0.1702 μm to 0.1772 μm with the loads are maintained as in the loads applied to the AlN and PZT. This study proved the significant impact of altering the structural dimensions and material properties of PMUTs on their operational characteristics, specifically the first mode frequency and deflection behavior.