Patent ID: 8363514

Claim:
A capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT) system, the system comprising: a bias signal port; an input signal port; at least a first cMUT element connected to the bias signal port and the input signal port; a bias signal source connected with the bias signal port to apply a bias signal to the first cMUT element; and an input signal source connected with the input signal port, the input signal source being operative to apply an input signal to the first cMUT element, the input signal including a first input signal component and a second input signal component, the first input signal component having primarily acoustic frequencies within a frequency response band of the first cMUT element, and the second input signal component having primarily frequencies substantially out of the frequency response band of the first cMUT element, and wherein the second input signal component and the bias signal together define an operation voltage applied on the first cMUT element, the operation voltage being different in a first operation mode than in a second operation mode.