Curved micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays and related methods of manufacture
First Claim
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1. A sensor device comprising:
- a support structure comprising a spine having a profile that is generally curved and a multiplicity of teeth extending from one side of said curved spine; and
a multiplicity of micromachined sensors supported by said support structure in positions whereby a curved aperture is provided.
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Abstract
A curved sensor device, such as an ultrasonic transducer array, is fabricated from a flat micromachined sensor (such as cMUT or pMUT) array constructed using micromachined electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) techniques. The device comprises: a support structure comprising a spine having a profile that is generally curved and a multiplicity of teeth extending from one side of the curved spine; and a multiplicity of sensors built on the support structure. The spine can be bent forward or backward and attached to a curved front face of a support member, thereby causing the sensors to adopt a curved array.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A sensor device comprising:
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a support structure comprising a spine having a profile that is generally curved and a multiplicity of teeth extending from one side of said curved spine; and a multiplicity of micromachined sensors supported by said support structure in positions whereby a curved aperture is provided. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A sensor device comprising:
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a continuous substrate comprising a front face and a multiplicity of spaced plateaus projecting rearward; a multiplicity of micromachined sensors fabricated on or in said substrate at its front face; a multiplicity of backing bodies, each backing body being attached to a rear face of a respective plateau; a support member having a front face, respective rear faces of said backing bodies being attached to said front face of said support member, wherein said sensors do not lie in the same plane. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A sensor device comprising:
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a support member having a front face; a continuous layer of backing material comprising a rear face attached to said front face of said support member; a multiplicity of backing bodies connected to and extending forward of said continuous layer of backing material; a multiplicity of sections of a substrate, each substrate section comprising a rear face attached to a front face of a respective backing body, adjacent ones of said substrate sections being separated from each other by a respective acoustically isolating gap or filled space; and a multiplicity of groups of sensors distributed over the front faces of said substrate sections, each group being built on a front face of a respective one of said substrate sections, wherein said sensors do not lie in the same plane. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification