Investigation of Capacitive Micromachined Transducers for Characterizing Specular Reflectors in Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging

In the recent past, capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers (CMUT) have been proposed in diagnostic ultrasound (US) imaging for improved receive sensitivity, broader frequency range of operation, and enhanced resolution when compared to the traditionally employed piezoelectric transducers (PZT). The stated characteristics of CMUT could be leveraged for enhancing the imaging of hard reflectors like needles/bones where high intensity and directional specular reflections are generated. However, the existing literature predominantly focuses on the use of CMUTs for homogeneous diffusive mediums and hardly on leveraging CMUT for specular imaging. In this regard, this work delves into the possibilities of CMUT for imaging specular reflectors and assesses its performance in comparison with a stateof-the-art PZT.