ECSEL 2017 IA -- POSITION-II -- SILEX Microsystems AB
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Silex Microsystems AB |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 4 985 049 |
| Project duration | June 2018 - September 2021 |
| Status | Completed |
Purpose and goal
POSITION-II is a project to realize a new minimally invasive procedures to enable e.g. angioplasty surgery, treatment of an heart arrhythmia or a heart valve replacement. The goal is to develop smart imaging and sensing catheters that are the “eyes and ears” of the surgeon during surgery. The project has enhanced the competitiveness of Europe in the rapidly emerging field of minimal invasive surgery. Silex have through this project built up a world leading production line for making piezoelectric ultrasound transducer technology.
Expected results and effects
The partners within the project have developed, manufactured and electro-acoustically benchmarked different MEMS based technologies for manufacturing of ultrasound transducers. A common benchmark comparison for different CMUT/PMUT ultra-sound transducer devices have been conducted. The benchmark enabled a detailed comparison and mapping of the different technologies to the application space to come to a common technology roadmap. During this project Silex has built up a world leading production line for ultrasound transducers based on the piezoelectric material PZT.
Planned approach and implementation
Silex has integrated and built up a production line for PZT based MEMS. Silex has characterized performance and performed reliability tests of the PZT material. Silex has designed, manufactured and improved the PMUT transducers for benchmarking at Philips (Eindhoven). To enable benchmarking, protocols and test set-up have been developed at Philips (Eindhoven). The measurements of CMUT / PMUT performance have been analysed and summarized in a white paper. The technologies have been analysed and mapped against different applications in a common roadmap.