Abstract
An analytical electromechanical model of a silicon/PZT laminate longitudinal mode resonant transducer is presented. The validity of this model is shown by the excellent agreement between the predicted and measured impedance of transducers with different device parameters. The experimental data also show a maximum value of 34 for the product of the quality factor and the effective electromechanical coupling. This figure of merit product, an indication of the power output capacity of a transducer, is two to three times higher than that of metal-based transducers. Additionally, silicon can sustain eight times higher ultrasonic velocities than high-strength titanium alloys, indicating that silicon-based ultrasonic transducers can produce much higher intensities efficiently.