25FAB's PMUT Platform: Potential Benefits Beyond Bulk PZT and CMUT

What is 25FAB offering?

According to its PMUT platform description, 25FAB connects custom transducer design with engineering samples, wafer fabrication and electronics integration. The company describes configurable arrays and a 200 mm scale-up route, positioning itself as a component and development partner for ultrasound manufacturers.

On its About page, the company presents an AI-assisted workflow linking design, material integration, fabrication and validation. Its handheld visual illustrates a product-integration concept, with finished-system development handled at the OEM level.

AZNO perspective: the interesting proposition is the bridge between a transducer design and repeatable component supply. Bringing those stages closer together could help developers coordinate the sensor, electronics, packaging and imaging workflow around a specific application.

What could PMUT offer over conventional bulk-PZT assemblies?

A PMUT converts applied voltage into strain in a thin piezoelectric film, bending a membrane to transmit sound; incoming pressure can generate a receive signal. Micromachining allows small cells and configurable arrays. Fraunhofer ENAS describes these principles and fabrication possibilities.

The potential advantages are miniaturization, freedom in array layout and closer integration with electronics. Fraunhofer ENAS also highlights PMUT integration over bulk devices. For a developer, these possibilities can be useful when designing compact apertures, dense interconnects and application-specific assemblies.

AZNO interpretation: wafer-based fabrication could also provide a route toward repeatable production and more integrated assembly. The practical outcome depends on the chosen material, array, packaging and production volume.

A useful distinction: PZT is a piezoelectric material; PMUT is an architecture. Some PMUTs use PZT films. Here, “PZT comparison” means conventional bulk-PZT assemblies, while PMUT refers to a micromachined membrane design.

What could the PMUT route offer compared with CMUT?

PMUT uses piezoelectric strain rather than electrostatic gap actuation, offering an alternative to the gap-bias mechanism used in conventional CMUT operation. Fraunhofer ENAS identifies low-voltage operation as a PMUT opportunity. Depending on the design, this can offer useful flexibility in the drive electronics.

For portable ultrasound, that makes PMUT an interesting option when balancing acoustic output, electrical drive and integration. Whole-probe power and contact temperature depend on the combined sensor, electronics, imaging mode and enclosure. CMUT has its own integration path: Butterfly describes transducer elements integrated with control circuitry at wafer level.

And compared with other PMUT implementations?

PMUT development already includes several materials and integration approaches. For example, Ledesma and colleagues' 2021 study explored AlN PMUTs integrated over CMOS. In this wider landscape, 25FAB's company-described emphasis is on linking custom device development with fabrication and supply.

What should we watch for next?

AZNO outlook: the most interesting next steps to follow are:

1. Array development: application-specific configurations, acoustic characteristics and drive options.
2. System integration: packaged prototypes bringing the transducer, electronics and imaging workflow together.
3. Portable-system performance: imaging results alongside operating power, contact temperature and scan duration.
4. Production progress: pilot programs, repeatable supply and qualification for the intended applications.

The strategic opportunity is to help manufacturers turn a promising transducer architecture into a useful ultrasound product. These are development milestones to watch, rather than a company-announced launch schedule.

Bottom line: 25FAB brings an interesting manufacturing-oriented proposition to the PMUT landscape. Its stated direction connects a compelling technology with the practical work of product development—a story worth following.

The person behind the platform: Yanfen Zhai

Yanfen Zhai introduces herself as Founder & CEO of 25FAB. Her background includes former postdoctoral-research and scientific-staff roles recorded by EPFL.

According to her KAUST academic profile, she completed her Ph.D. in 2016 at Tsinghua University in Beijing, in the Nano-OptoElectronics Lab within the Department of Electronic Engineering. That background in electronic engineering and nanoscale optical technologies gives her research-to-entrepreneurship story a strong technical foundation.

AZNO editorial appreciation: Zhai's move from research into entrepreneurship is a story worth encouraging. Bringing a technical idea toward repeatable hardware calls for persistence, multidisciplinary collaboration and attention to manufacturing. The ambition to connect these stages gives 25FAB a compelling human and engineering story.

From AZNO: we wish Yanfen Zhai and the entire 25FAB team every success in turning their research and engineering ambitions into reliable, useful technologies. We look forward to following their progress.