A high-frequency annular-array transducer using an interdigital bonded 1-3 composite

IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2011 Jan;58(1):206-14. doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2011.1787.

Abstract

This paper reports the design, fabrication, and characterization of a 1-3 composite annular-array transducer. An interdigital bonded (IB) 1-3 composite was prepared using two IB operations on a fine-grain piezoelectric ceramic. The final composite had 19-μm-wide posts separated by 6-μm-wide polymer kerfs. A novel method to remove metal electrodes from polymer portions of the 1-3 composite was established to eliminate the need for patterning and aligning the electrode on the composite to the electrodes on a flexible circuit. Unloaded epoxy was used for both the matching and backing layers and a flexible circuit was used for interconnect. A prototype array was successfully fabricated and tested. The results were in reasonable agreement with those predicted by a circuit-analogous model. The average center frequency estimated from the measured pulse-echo responses of array elements was 33.5 MHz and the -6-dB fractional bandwidth was 57%. The average insertion loss recorded was 14.3 dB, and the maximum crosstalk between the nearest-neighbor elements was less than -37 dB. Images of a wire phantom and excised porcine eye were obtained to show the capabilities of the array for high-frequency ultrasound imaging.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Ceramics / chemistry
  • Electric Impedance
  • Equipment Design
  • Eye / diagnostic imaging
  • Lead / chemistry*
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Swine
  • Titanium / chemistry*
  • Transducers*
  • Ultrasonography / instrumentation*
  • Zirconium / chemistry*

Substances

  • lead titanate zirconate
  • Lead
  • Zirconium
  • Titanium