CMUT ultrasound chip (on CMOS) · serves as: Medical imaging, Sensing, Compute.
Which group Butterfly Ultrasound-on-Chip belongs to and how it is built
Subcategory of ultrasound components based on semiconductors: capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUT) or piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUT) fabricated on CMOS chips using standard semiconductor manufacturing processes. Wafer-level integration of thousands of micro transducer elements with control electronics eliminates the hundreds of analog wires required by classical piezoelectric probes, enables operation across a wide frequency range (e.g. 1–12 MHz) from a single device, and reduces unit cost through semiconductor manufacturing scale. Used in handheld POCUS probes, whole-body USCT scanners, industrial probes, and implantable devices.
Component type denoting a single integrated circuit that combines a CMUT transducer matrix (typically 2D) with analog and digital electronics, manufactured in a single semiconductor process on a CMOS substrate. Each CMUT element is a microscopic electrostatic-field membrane capable of both emitting and receiving ultrasound waves across a wide, programmable frequency range. Wafer-level integration with control electronics delivers compute on the order of trillions of operations per second and supports imaging modes (B-mode, M-mode, Doppler, Coherence, 3D, beam steering) that classically require multiple separate piezoelectric probes.
Basic physical properties of Butterfly Ultrasound-on-Chip — dimensions, weight and materials
Other hardware parts related to Butterfly Ultrasound-on-Chip
Butterfly Ultrasound-on-Chip™ is Butterfly Network's proprietary semiconductor technology that replaced classical piezoelectric crystals with a single CMOS die containing thousands of CMUT (Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer) elements. Butterfly was the first company to create a commercially available, FDA-cleared ultrasound device using semiconductor MEMS and a single handheld probe covering the entire 1–12 MHz range.
The chip integrates a 2D matrix of more than 9,000 silicon CMUT elements directly with control electronics at the wafer level (wafer-level integration). Each element is a microscopic membrane capable of both emitting and receiving sound waves over a wide, programmable frequency band. By integrating sensors and electronics on a single postage-stamp-sized chip, Butterfly eliminates the hundreds of analog wires required by classical 3D probes and supports advanced imaging modes (B-mode, M-mode, Coherence, Color/Power/Pulsed Doppler, 3D imaging, beam steering) from a single multi-purpose probe.
The chip itself delivers approximately 1 trillion operations per second, enabling one probe to support linear, phased, and curved arrays with no image-quality compromise. This packs the compute of a hospital-class cart-based ultrasound system into a pocket device while enabling software-only feature upgrades (software-defined ultrasound).
Butterfly Network has documented the technology with more than 600 patents (per the official site). Manufacturing leverages the same infrastructure that produces computer processors — bringing semiconductor-scale economics to an industry traditionally dominated by hand-soldering thousands of wires to piezoelectric crystals.
The chip is at the heart of Butterfly's own products: the second-generation iQ+ probe and the third-generation iQ3 (powered by the P4.3 chip with double the processing power of P4). Through the Butterfly Embedded™ licensing program (formerly Octiv), the technology is made available to partners for co-development of new devices. Most visible partner deployments: the Midjourney Scanner (40 chips per system, full-body USCT), Mendaera, and Forest Neurotech.
Butterfly positions the CMUT technology as an environmentally safer alternative to PZT (lead-containing piezoelectric) transducers, which are subject to RoHS/COCIR exemptions. Eliminating PZT while keeping image quality comparable to cart-based devices is one of the manufacturer's arguments for sustainable manufacturing.
