A MEMS-Scale Ultrasonic Power Receiver for Biomedical Implants

Bio-implantable medical devices need a reliable and stable source of power to perform effectively. Although batteries are typically the first candidate to power implantable devices, they have a limited lifetime and must be periodically replaced or recharged. To alleviate this issue, ultrasonic power transfer systems can wirelessly power bio-implantable devices. Diaphragm structures which use piezoelectric materials (also known as piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers) can be fabricated on a small scale suitable for implantable devices. Diaphragms can be fabricated by deposition of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films on a non-piezoelectric material. However, current deposition techniques cannot provide PZT thicknesses more than about 6 μm. We numerically investigate the performance of a square ultrasonic PZT receiver with inner and outer electrodes. Using COMSOL simulations, we optimize the piezoelectric film thickness for a 2 mm × 2 mm diaphragm with a silicon substrate of 50 μm and find the optimal thickness to be 20 μm for a maximum output power delivered to an optimal load. We fabricate a micromachined ultrasonic power-generating receiver capable of providing sufficient power for implantable medical devices using bulk PZT. We show that when a transmitter is generating an input power intensity of 322 mW/cm
²
at 88 kHz, less than Food and Drug Administration limit of 720 mW/cm
²
, the receiver delivers a power of 0.7 mW to an optimal resistive load of 4.3 kΩ when the distance between the transmitter and the receiver is 20 mm. Furthermore, the process developed can be used to fabricate devices that are significantly smaller than the one characterized, which enables further miniaturization of bio-implanted systems.