Background, Motivation and Objective For the development of image-guided high intensity ultrasound therapies, Capacitive Micro-machined Ultrasound Transducers (CMUTs) exhibit several advantages, such asease of miniaturization (cell size: micron size), inherently broad bandwidth (>several MHz), good MR compatibility and low fabrication costs. Although cMUTs have beenmostly developed for imaging purposes, this technology also has a potential for high electro-acoustic efficiency (low mechanical loss in the material thickness). To datehowever, the use of CMUTs for high intensity ultrasound applications has only been shown in a few preliminary studies, since the development of specific cell structures anddriving strategies remains challenging. Here, the performances of CMUTs designed for high intensity ultrasound applications were evaluated in the continuous wave modeoperation regime. The feasibility of generating directional ultrasound-induced heating and thermal damage in biological tissues was studied in the context of interstitialthermal ablation.