Three-port piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer

US10001552B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• QUALCOMM Incorporated · US

Inventors

• Hrishikesh Vijaykumar Panchawagh · Rochester, US
• Hao-Yen Tang · Berkeley, US
• Yipeng Lu · Davis, US
• Kostadin Dimitrov Djordjev · Los Gatos, US
• Suryaprakash Ganti · Los Altos, US
• David William Burns · Minneapolis, US
• Ravindra V. Shenoy · San Jose, US
• Jon Bradley Lasiter · Stockton, US
• Nai-Kuei Kuo · San Jose, US
• Firas Sammoura · Dublin, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 14, 2015
• Grant date: Jun 19, 2018
• Expiry date: Feb 9, 2037

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G10K11/341
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A piezoelectric micromechanical ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) includes a diaphragm disposed over a cavity, the diaphragm including a piezoelectric layer stack including a piezoelectric layer, a first electrode electrically coupled with transceiver circuitry, and a second electrode electrically coupled with the transceiver circuitry. The first electrode may be disposed in a first portion of the diaphragm, and the second electrode may be disposed in a second, separate, portion of the diaphragm. Each of the first and the second electrode is disposed on or proximate to a first surface of the piezoelectric layer, the first surface being opposite from the cavity. The PMUT is configured to transmit first ultrasonic signals by way of the first electrode during a first time period and to receive second ultrasonic signals by way of the second electrode during a second time period, the first time period and the second time period being at least partially overlapping.