Biblio

The fingerprint sensor based on pMUTs was reported [1]. Spatial resolution of the image depends on the size of the acoustic source when a plane wave is used. If the size of the acoustic source is smaller, piezoelectric films with high dielectric constant are required. In this study, in order to obtain small acoustic source, we proposed Pb(Zrx Th-x)O3 (PZT) epitaxial transducers with high dielectric constant. PbTiO3 (PTO) epitaxial films were grown on conductive La-SrTiO3 (STO) substrate by RF magnetron sputtering. Longitudinal wave conversion loss of PTO transducers was measured by a network analyzer. The thermoplastic elastomer was used instead of real fingerprint. We confirmed that conversion loss of piezoelectric film/substrate structure was increased by contacting the elastomer due the change of reflection coefficient of the substrate bottom/elastomer interface. Minimum conversion loss images were obtained by mechanically scanning the soft probe on the transducer surface. We achieved the detection of the fingerprint phantom based on the elastomer in the GHz.

One of the primary motivations for using ultrasound reflectometry for fingerprint imaging is the promise of increased spoof resistance over conventional optical or capacitive sensing approaches due to the ability for ultrasound to determine the elastic impedance of the imaged material. A fake 3D printed plastic finger can therefore be easily distinguished from a real finger. However, ultrasonic sensors are still vulnerable to materials that are similar in impedance to tissue, such as water or rubber. Previously we demonstrated an ultrasonic fingerprint reader operating with 1.3GHz ultrasound based on pulse echo impedance imaging on the backside silicon interface. In this work, we utilize the large bandwidth of these sensors to differentiate between a finger and materials with similar impedances using the frequency response of elastic impedance obtained by transducer excitation with a wideband RF chirp signal. The reflected signal is a strong function of impedance mismatch and absorption [Hoople 2015].