Optical micro-machined ultrasound sensors with a silicon photonic resonator in a buckled acoustical membrane
conference paper
Future applications of ultrasonography in (bio-)medical imaging require ultrasound sensor matrices with small sensitive elements. Promising are opto-mechanical ultrasound sensors (OMUS) based on a silicon photonic ring resonator embedded in a silicon-dioxide acoustical membrane. This work presents new OMUS modelling: acousto-mechanical non-linear FEM and photonic circuit equations. We show that initial wafer stress needs to be considered in the design: the acoustical resonance frequency changes considerably and OMUS sensitivity differs for up-or downwards buckled membranes. Simulated acoustical resonance frequency agrees well with measurements, assuming realistic SOI wafer stress. Measured sensitivity showed large device-to-device variation and simulations agree within this order of magnitude. We conclude that careful modeling of stress is necessary (b) for the design of robust and sensitive sensors.
TNO Identifier
867256
ISBN
978-1-5386-8040-7
Source title
2019 20th International Conference on Thermal, Mechanical and Multi-Physics Simulation and Experiments in Microelectronics and Microsystems (EuroSimE)
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