Low-voltage, ultra-broadband wearable MEMS ultrasound: a frequency-merged, wafer-scale framework for continuous in vivo cardiovascular imaging and monitoring.
6 affiliations
- 1Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- 2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- 3School of Advanced Interdisciplinary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
- 4School of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
- 5Department of Neurosurgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China. [email protected].
- 6Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. [email protected].
Abstract
Continuous, non-invasive monitoring of central hemodynamics is essential for advanced cardiovascular care. Although wearable ultrasound enables deep-tissue sensing, its widespread clinical adoption is limited by the inherent physical trade-off between driving voltage and acoustic bandwidth, alongside the challenges of scaling microelectronic ultrasound devices for medical imaging. Here, we report a wearable, 81.7% broadband piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) array driven at a low voltage of 5 Vp. To address these bottlenecks, this study introduces two parallel innovations. First, we introduce a novel frequency-merging design, quantified by an equivalent circuit model, to effectively decouple the voltage-bandwidth trade-off. Second, we provide a comprehensive framework directing a scalable silicon-on-insulator wafer-level fabrication process towards fully in vitro and in vivo experimental characterizations for medical imaging. Enabled by these advancements, in vitro characterization demonstrates 0.64 mm axial and 1.27 mm lateral resolutions while maintaining a penetration depth of up to 9 cm in wire phantoms. In vivo, the wearable patch achieves comparable high-fidelity B-mode and M-mode imaging of carotid, brachial, and radial arteries within 4 cm depth to commercial rigid probes. Crucially, the device enables continuous, stable hemodynamic monitoring under limited daily postural activities for up to 9 hours. Inter-subject validation confirms precise blood pressure measurements, with deviations of 2.2 mmHg compared to FDA-approved clinical monitors. Leveraging standard semiconductor batch manufacturing, this work addresses the technical mismatch between low-voltage wearable devices and high-performance ultrasound transduction, creating a feasible development path for highly integrated, mass-producible cardiovascular ultrasound systems-on-chip.
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BibTeX
@article{jin2026lowvoltage,
title = {{Low-voltage, ultra-broadband wearable MEMS ultrasound: a frequency-merged, wafer-scale framework for continuous in vivo cardiovascular imaging and monitoring.}},
author = {Tong Jin and Chenfang Yan and Yucheng Lin and Hongyang Chen and Yi Qiao and Zijie Zhao and Rui Wang and Qiong He and Jiahan Yu and Jin Yang and Lingqian Zhang and Chengjun Huang and Jianwen Luo and Boyuan Wei and Hang Gao},
journal = {Microsystems \& nanoengineering},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1038/s41378-026-01451-6},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42967932},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Low-voltage, ultra-broadband wearable MEMS ultrasound: a frequency-merged, wafer-scale framework for continuous in vivo cardiovascular imaging and monitoring.
AU - Tong Jin
AU - Chenfang Yan
AU - Yucheng Lin
AU - Hongyang Chen
AU - Yi Qiao
AU - Zijie Zhao
AU - Rui Wang
AU - Qiong He
AU - Jiahan Yu
AU - Jin Yang
AU - Lingqian Zhang
AU - Chengjun Huang
AU - Jianwen Luo
AU - Boyuan Wei
AU - Hang Gao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/02
JO - Microsystems & nanoengineering
DO - 10.1038/s41378-026-01451-6
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42967932
AB - Continuous, non-invasive monitoring of central hemodynamics is essential for advanced cardiovascular care. Although wearable ultrasound enables deep-tissue sensing, its widespread clinical adoption is limited by the inherent physical trade-off between driving voltage and acoustic bandwidth, alongside the challenges of scaling microelectronic ultrasound devices for medical imaging. Here, we report a wearable, 81.7% broadband piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) array driven at a low voltage of 5 Vp. To address these bottlenecks, this study introduces two parallel innovations. First, we introduce a novel frequency-merging design, quantified by an equivalent circuit model, to effectively decouple the voltage-bandwidth trade-off. Second, we provide a comprehensive framework directing a scalable silicon-on-insulator wafer-level fabrication process towards fully in vitro and in vivo experimental characterizations for medical imaging. Enabled by these advancements, in vitro characterization demonstrates 0.64 mm axial and 1.27 mm lateral resolutions while maintaining a penetration depth of up to 9 cm in wire phantoms. In vivo, the wearable patch achieves comparable high-fidelity B-mode and M-mode imaging of carotid, brachial, and radial arteries within 4 cm depth to commercial rigid probes. Crucially, the device enables continuous, stable hemodynamic monitoring under limited daily postural activities for up to 9 hours. Inter-subject validation confirms precise blood pressure measurements, with deviations of 2.2 mmHg compared to FDA-approved clinical monitors. Leveraging standard semiconductor batch manufacturing, this work addresses the technical mismatch between low-voltage wearable devices and high-performance ultrasound transduction, creating a feasible development path for highly integrated, mass-producible cardiovascular ultrasound systems-on-chip.
SN - 2096-1030
SN - 2055-7434
ER -