A Flexible Ultrasound Transducer Array with Micro-Machined Bulk PZT

This paper proposes a novel flexible piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasound transducer, which is based on PZT and a polyimide substrate. The transducer is made on the polyimide substrate and packaged with medical polydimethylsiloxane. Instead of etching the PZT ceramic, this paper proposes a method of putting diced PZT blocks into holes on the polyimide which are pre-etched. The device works in d31 mode and the electromechanical coupling factor is 22.25%. Its flexibility, good conformal contacting with skin surfaces and proper resonant frequency make the device suitable for heart imaging. The flexible packaging ultrasound transducer also has a good waterproof performance after hundreds of ultrasonic electric tests in water. It is a promising ultrasound transducer and will be an effective supplementary ultrasound imaging method in the practical applications.

[1]  Sigurd Wagner,et al.  Spherical deformation of compliant substrates with semiconductor device islands , 2004 .

[2]  W. Steichen,et al.  Study of PZT coated membrane structures for micromachined ultrasonic transducers [medical imaging] , 2001, 2001 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium. Proceedings. An International Symposium (Cat. No.01CH37263).

[3]  O. V. von Ramm,et al.  In vivo real-time 3-D intracardiac echo using PMUT arrays , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.

[4]  Pei-Jie Cao,et al.  5C-5 High Frequency Piezo Composites Microfabricated Ultrasound Transducers for Intravascular Imaging (Invited) , 2006, 2006 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium.

[5]  O. Oralkan,et al.  Fabrication of Flexible Transducer Arrays With Through-Wafer Electrical Interconnects Based on Trench Refilling With PDMS , 2008, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[6]  Tian-Ling Ren,et al.  Tiny MEMS-based pressure sensors in the measurement of Intracranial Pressure , 2014, Tsinghua Science and Technology.

[7]  Litian Liu,et al.  Design of magnetic RF inductor in CMOS , 2012 .

[8]  Xiaoning Jiang,et al.  High Frequency Piezo Composites Microfabricated Ultrasound Transducers for Intravascular Imaging , 2006 .

[9]  O. Oralkan,et al.  Volumetric ultrasound imaging using 2-D CMUT arrays , 2003, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[10]  M. Lukacs,et al.  Single element high frequency (<50 MHz) PZT sol gel composite ultrasound transducers , 2000, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[11]  Firas Akasheh,et al.  Development of piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers , 2004 .

[12]  Xuecang Geng,et al.  Fabrication and characterization of high frequency phased arrays for NDE imaging , 2010, Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[13]  X. Geng,et al.  Micromachined PMN-PT single crystal composite transducers -- 15–75 MHz PC-MUT , 2008, 2008 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium.

[14]  Massimo De Vittorio,et al.  Piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer based on flexible AlN , 2014 .

[15]  E. R. Brown,et al.  Conformal Ultrasound Imaging System , 2011 .

[16]  K.K. Li,et al.  Micromachined high frequency ferroelectric sonar transducers , 1997, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[17]  Warren S. Grundfest,et al.  Development of an ultrasound imaging system for needle guidance , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium.

[18]  Chen Chao,et al.  Micromachined thick film piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer array , 2005, The 13th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems, 2005. Digest of Technical Papers. TRANSDUCERS '05..

[19]  D.J. Powell,et al.  Flexible ultrasonic transducer arrays for nondestructive evaluation applications. I. The theoretical modeling approach , 1996, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[20]  S. Rhee,et al.  60 MHz PMN-PT based 1-3 composite transducer for IVUS imaging , 2008, 2008 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium.

[21]  R. Robb,et al.  3D visualization, analysis, and treatment of the prostate using trans-urethral ultrasound. , 2003, Computerized medical imaging and graphics : the official journal of the Computerized Medical Imaging Society.

[22]  Martin O. Culjat,et al.  Transurethral ultrasound catheter-based transducer with flexible polyimide joints , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium.

[23]  Jonathan J. Bernstein,et al.  Integrated ferroelectric monomorph transducers for acoustic imaging , 1997 .

[24]  David A. Hutchins,et al.  Capacitive and piezoelectric air-coupled transducers for resonant ultrasonic inspection , 1996 .

[25]  K J Kirk,et al.  Sputtered ZnO film on aluminium foils for flexible ultrasonic transducers. , 2014, Ultrasonics.

[26]  F. Akasheh,et al.  Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers: modeling the influence of structural parameters on device performance , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[27]  G. Hayward,et al.  A flexible piezoelectric transducer design for efficient generation and reception of ultrasonic Lamb waves , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.