SBIR Phase I: Air-coupled MEMS-based Ultrasound Transducer for Assessment of Tympanic Membrane Motion

This SBIR Phase I project will focus on a novel medical ultrasound device for the accurate diagnosis of middle ear infections. The device uses a small transducer that transmits ultrasound energy into the ear canal to determine whether a middle ear infection is present, and whether an antibiotic is appropriate. The focus will be to design and optimize an air-coupled MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) ultrasound transducer. The device will be a cost-effective method to improve diagnoses and reduce antibiotics in a market in which 17.6M doctor visits per year are coded directly to middle ear infections in the U.S. Ear infections are the #1 indication for which antibiotics are prescribed for children and the #1 cause for surgery in childhood, costing more than $10B annually in the U.S. Accessing this market will require consistent device performance with low variability and rare failure, as well as the ability to perform manufacturing with a high yield. This SBIR Phase I project will seek to enable the development of the first known commercial medical product utilizing air-coupled (capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer) CMUT technology. CMUTs have been proposed for many applications, but very few have moved beyond the early research stage due to the high degree of technical difficulty and cost required to translate a research device into one that generates consistent transducer performance with low variability and rare failure rate. The work of this proposal facilitates the investigators? goal by establishing fast automated assessment of CMUT performance, both electrically and mechanically. The investigators will design and construct test systems to rapidly and automatically evaluate electromechanical and acoustical performance of CMUT designs. The electromechanical system automatically evaluates electrical impedance across frequency and bias voltage. The acoustical test system automatically evaluates pulse-echo directivity and sensitivity of a given CMUT, across bias voltage and pulsing parameters. The authors propose to use the two test systems to determine electromechanical tests which can be done in the foundry at the wafer level, which are predictive of acoustic performance. NSF funding is being sought to make this challenging but promising CMUT technology a commercial reality.