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ieee transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control, vol. 53, no. 1, january 2006
I. Introduction
igh frequency (> 30 MHz) ultrasound is currently
used for various imaging applications in ophthalmology [1][3], dermatology [4], [5], and small animal studies [6], [7]. At present there are several commercial ultrasound systems available for use in the 25-MHz to 50-MHz
frequency range1 . These systems rely upon single-element
transducers that are mechanically scanned in a line or arc
to form an image slice. Array systems, on the other hand,
are desired because they use electronic scanning to do so.
Arrays also lack movable parts that may be hazardous to
patients, can be steered and dynamically focused in the
image plane, and can achieve higher image frame rates.
Unfortunately at the present time commercial array systems are not yet available at frequencies above 30 MHz due
mainly to limitations in fabrication technology and equipment, as well as a lack of quality high-frequency materials
and electronics. Despite these limitations, a few investigators have successfully designed and built high-frequency
ultrasonic arrays. The eorts of these researchers are summarized next.
Manuscript received April 11, 2005; accepted July 15, 2005. The
authors would like thank the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for
providing the funding through grant # P41-EB2182.
J. M. Cannata, J. A. Williams, Q. Zhou, and K. K. Shung are
with the NIH Resource on Medical Ultrasonic Transducer Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, CA (e-mail: cannata@usc.edu).
T. A. Ritter is with the U.S. Air Force, Keesler Air Force Base,
Biloxi, MS.
1 Systems include those by VisualSonics, Inc., Toronto, Ontario,
Canada, http://www.visualsonics.com; Ultralink LLC., St. Petersburg, FL, http://www.arcscan.com; and Capistrano Labs, Inc., San
Clemente, CA http://www.capolabs.com.
c 2006 IEEE
08853010/$20.00
225
TABLE I
Initial Design Goals for the 35-MHz Array.
Center frequency
Number of elements
Element-to-element spacing (pitch)
Elevation aperture
Elevation focus
Bandwidth (6 dB)
20 dB pulse length
Crosstalk (element-to-element)
35 MHz
64
50 m (1.2)
3 mm
10 mm
> 50%
< 120 ns
<30 dB
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ieee transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control, vol. 53, no. 1, january 2006
The average modeled electromechanical coupling coefcient for the composite was 0.64 and the rst piezoelec-
227
TABLE II
Relevant Bulk Material Properties for the TRS600FGHD Piezoelectric Ceramic.1
Stiness
constants2
cE
11 (GPa)
cE
33
cE
12
cE
13
cE
44
Dielectric
constants
Stress
constants2
Other
properties
140
2
S
33 /o
1350
e15 (C/m2 )
(GPa)
121
1700
e31
(C/m2 )
5.7
(GPa)
75
2
S
11 /o
T
33 /o
3670
e33 (C/m2 )
25.8
(GPa)
90
T
11 /o
3830
(GPa)
22
20.24
Density2 (kg/m3 )
V33
7500
(m/s)
3966
k33
0.68
1 Courtesy
2 Used
TABLE III
The Properties of the Passive Materials Used in the Array Design.1
Material
Epo-Tek 301
(Lens)
E-Solder 3022
(Backing layer)
Epo-Tek 301 + 17%
Al2 O3 (Kerf ller)
1 All
Density
(kg/m3 )
Vlong 2
(m/s)
Attenuationlong
(dB/mm)
Vshear 2
(m/s)
Attenuationshear
(dB/mm)
1150
2675
13.5
1270
48
3200
1850
110
1610
2710
15.9
1375
49
2V
long
0.5
.
1
(2)
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ieee transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control, vol. 53, no. 1, january 2006
TABLE IV
Measured Properties for the 75- Precision Interconnect
Coaxial Cable.1
Property
PI #171-0574-XX
73.8 1.6i
0.071 + 0.99i m1
2.2 108 m/s
6.77 /m
61 pF/m
674 S/m
0.33 H/m
0.61 dB/m
1 The
cable was characterized at 35 MHz. The respective cable parameters are displayed with units of meters (m), ohms (), henrys
(H), farads (F), siemens (S), and decibels (dB).
Fig. 4. Modeled electrical impedance magnitude (solid line) and
phase angle (dashed line) for a 1.5-mm 0.3-mm 0.05-mm piece
of composite resonating in air.
[Zload + Zo T anh(x)]
,
[Zo + Zload T anh(x)]
(3)
229
room temperature for 48 hours in a dry nitrogen environment, and then post-cured at 40 C and then 50 C for 24
hours each. The composite and frame were then lapped
down by 10 m in thickness to ensure that the composite
posts were 50-m thick and that the epoxy bond line between composite and frame was at and contiguous. The
top and side surfaces of the framed composite were then
cleaned and sputtered with a total of 4500
A Cr/Au. Element separation was achieved by mechanically scratchdicing the top electrode layer over the composite kerfs and
ceramic frame with the prescribed 50-m spacing using the
13-m diamond/nickel hubbed blade previously described.
The opposing two electroplated sides of the ceramic frame
were also scratched-diced to separate individual element
electrodes. For this a 50-m blade was used to completely
remove a 50-m width of electroplating, leaving connections for either the odd or even element electrodes on one
side of the ceramic frame spaced at a 100-m pitch (Fig. 1).
The electroplated array was then prepared for casting of
the epoxy lens.
The epoxy lens was cast onto the array with a polished
quartz cylindrical rod (ISP Optics, Irvington, NY) as a
mold. The desired focal length f was achieved by specify-
c2 ,
c1
(4)
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ieee transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control, vol. 53, no. 1, january 2006
Fig. 7. A picture of the nished 35-MHz array. The bottom right side
of this image shows an enlarged view of the front of the array. The
long axis of the hole cut in the stainless steel nosepiece is along the
azimuth direction.
231
2
we Re t (xe xo )2 + zo2 ,
c
e=1
TABLE V
Measured Properties for the 64-Element Composite Array.
Property
Value
Number of elements
Number of open elements
Number of shorted elements
Average center frequency
Highest/lowest center frequency
Average bandwidth (6 dB)
Highest/lowest bandwidth
Average sensitivity
Highest/lowest sensitivity
20 dB pulse length
Electrical impedance magnitude
(at 35 MHz)
Electrical impedance phase angle
(at 35 MHz)
Focal point
Insertion loss
64
1
0
35.3 MHz
36.5 MHz/34.2 MHz
55%
62%/49%
403 mV
444 mV/360 mV
94 ns
Measured
31 ohms
48 degrees
9.5 mm
22.8 dB
N
(5)
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ieee transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control, vol. 53, no. 1, january 2006
Fig. 11. The variation of sensitivity and bandwidth across the array.
Fig. 9. Measured pulse-echo response for two 35-MHz array elements.
The waveform on the top (element #64) was deemed typical whereas
the one on the bottom (element #24) was judged to be the worst.
The axes on the top and right of the gure refer to the frequency
spectrum (dashed line). Also displayed are the calculated center frequency (CF), the 6 dB bandwidth (BW), the 20 dB pulse length
(PL), and peak-to-peak voltage (Vpp ).
tivity and pulse shape recorded for the worst active element. Overall the performance of the array was very consistent across the aperture, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11.
Crosstalk measurements indicated satisfactory but not
ideal element-to-element isolation. The measured crosstalk
for the array is shown in Fig. 12. Near the center frequency
of the array the measured crosstalk was <24 dB. There
are two likely possibilities for this higher-than-desired
crosstalk: acoustic or mechanical cross-coupling between
elements in the 2-2 composite array structure through
the backing, kerf ller and lens, and/or electrical crosscoupling caused by a competition between the high array
233
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ieee transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control, vol. 53, no. 1, january 2006
References
Fig. 15. Axial (top) and lateral (bottom) line spread functions for
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limited number of elements used for reconstruction. These
sidelobes could be reduced in amplitude by using apodization; however, this comes at a cost of increased main lobe
width [48].
IV. Conclusions
This paper describes the development and fabrication
of a 35-MHz linear array made using mechanically diced
2-2 composite elements. With the exception of the desired
235
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ieee transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control, vol. 53, no. 1, january 2006
Mr. Williams joined the NIH Resource Center for Medical Ultrasonic Transducer Technology in March, 2002 as Research Technologist, just prior to their move to the University of Southern California
in August of that year. He has also served as the webmaster for the
Resource Center website http://bme.usc.edu/UTRC since the move
to Los Angeles, CA. He has now worked in the ultrasound eld for
over fourteen years.
His research interests are in novel techniques for high-frequency
transducer/array design and fabrication, and the role information
technology can play in improving the capabilities and accessibility of
technology.