Piezocomposite and CMUT arrays assessment through in vitro imaging performances

Piezoelectric and capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers (CMUT) are usually measured and compared in regards to acoustic and electro-acoustic performances. This paper is focused on the imaging performances of such transducers and propose a quantitative imaging assessment of B-mode images. In this purpose, fully integrated CMUT and piezocomposite-based probes were manufactured. Transducers were designed with close features (geometries, center frequency, interconnect and packaging) and plug on a clinical ultrasound system with a research interface. Major imaging performances (speckle to noise ratio, resolutions and contrast) of the probes are presented. Despite an environment dedicated to piezoelectric transducers, CMUT probe exhibits comparable image quality as compared to a state-of-the-art piezocomposite probe. Indeed, close resolutions are calculated, field of view is improved in phased-array imaging, and contrast is significantly improved.