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Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs) have been developed as an alternative to piezoelectric transducers for ultrasonic imaging in non-destructive testing applications. These CMUTs offer substantial advantages over their piezoelectric counterparts, which include a highly miniaturized system, easy integration with electronic control circuitry, a wider bandwidth, and a higher sensitivity. In this thesis, the design, fabrication and characterization of several single and array CMUT devices are reported. Many sizes of CMUTs, aiming to operate at different resonant frequencies, were fabricated using a PolyMUMPs sacrificial technique. An analytical and finite element model was used to further understanding of the physical behaviour of the transducer. The basic functionality of the CMUT devices was investigated through capacitance and electrical impedance measurements. These devices showed greater change in the capacitance and impedance data while operating close to their collapse voltages. This higher change in both capacitance and impedance is a result of a larger membrane displacement. The acoustic output power is directly related to the magnitude of the membrane’s displacement. The transducers performance thus can be enhanced by operating close to their collapse voltage and obtained higher sensitivity. The optical characterization, performed on the single devices and on the 1-D arrays, provided a better understanding of the membrane vibration modes and displacement profiles at different resonant frequency modes. Acoustic measurements were performed to demonstrate the transmission capability of the CMUTs. The generated acoustic signals were detected using a commercial detector. These acoustic experiments demonstrated that these CMUTs can potentially be used as ultrasonic transducers alternative to piezoelectric transducers.

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Title page, contents and summary only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / "In early arthritis, it is important to make a diagnosis before structural damage has occurred, with early disease modifying therapy effective in improving long term outcomes. The first part of this thesis addresses the deficiency in our current knowledge of standardisation and reproducibility of ultrasound (US) findings. Chapter 2 describes a standardised protocol developed for assessing the metacarphphalangeal (MCP) joints and novel measurements of synovial inflammation. Chapter 3 compares early arthritis subjects to a control group, and showed significantly more US synovitis and abnormally increased measurements, with extensor tenosynovitis (ET) and power Doppler (PD_ positivity highly specific to the early arthritis group. Chapter 4 validates HRUS findings in a subset of subjects using MRI as the reference standard..Chapter 5 presents longitudinal data which suggests that clnical swelling and PD positivity at the MCP joints were the most sensitive to change as a reseult of disease-modifying therapy. Chapter 6 validates an US assessment tooldevelopedbadsed on “sentinel joints” whilst factors that may hemp to differentiate subjects with polyarthralgias from those with early RA are identified in chapter 7. The results of this study suggest that early RA needs to be redefined in the light of our US findings. The prognostic value of early US abnormalities will contlinue to be investigated." -- from Abstract. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1317258 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Medicine, 2008