MEMS-Based Scanner Dedicated for Ultrasound Medical Imaging

In this paper, the development of a micro electromechanical scanner incorporating high frequency ultrasound transducer operating at 3.5 MHz is presented. We describe the structure and analysis of a microsystem that can be used as a scanner in based medical imaging system. The scanner consists of a rectangular platform attached to a frame actuated using four trapezium electrodes. The behavior of the scanner has been modeled using finite element analysis. The scan angles are up to plusmn5deg for the platform and plusmn2deg for the frame. Currently, the scanner is being fabricated according to the standard PolyMUMPs process. We propose this kind of scanners since it offers reduced size, power consumption, and increased speed, positioning accuracy, parallelism using arrays and reliability.