Patent ID: 8767512

Claim:
A piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) array, comprising: a plurality of piezoelectric transducer element populations disposed over a substrate, each element population comprising a plurality of transducer elements which each include: a piezoelectric membrane; and a drive/sense electrode coupled to the piezoelectric membrane of the transducer element; wherein for each of the element populations, a size of a piezoelectric membrane of a first transducer element of the element population is different than a size of a piezoelectric membrane of a second transducer element of the element population; a plurality of sets of electrode rails disposed over the substrate, wherein for each of the plurality of sets of electrode rails, of the transducer element populations, the set of electrode rails is coupled to only a respective one of the transducer element populations, wherein a first electrode rail of the set of electrode rails is electrically coupled to the drive/sense electrode of the first transducer element of the respective one of the transducer element populations and a second electrode rail of the set of electrode rails is electrically coupled to the drive/sense electrode of the second transducer element of the respective one of the transducer element populations.