Planar phased ultrasound transducer array

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12138659-B2
Application number	US-202318464897-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 11, 2023
Priority date	Nov 18, 2019
Publication date	Nov 12, 2024
Grant date	Nov 12, 2024

Abstract

Planar phased ultrasound transducer including a first layer including a sheet of piezoelectric material, a piezo frame surrounding an outer perimeter of the sheet of piezoelectric material, and an epoxy material placed between the piezo frame and the sheet of piezoelectric material. The transducer includes a flex frame secured to a back side of the first layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A planar phased ultrasound transducer, comprising:
a first layer including:
a sheet of piezoelectric material (PM), the sheet of PM including one or more kerf cuts, the one or more kerf cuts effective to form two or more transducer elements in the PM;
a piezo frame fully surrounding an outer perimeter of the sheet of piezoelectric material; and
an adhesive material placed between the piezo frame and the sheet of piezoelectric material; and

a flex frame secured to a back side of the first layer.

2. The ultrasound transducer of claim 1 , wherein the one or more kerf cuts extend entirely across a width of the sheet of PM.

3. The ultrasound transducer of claim 1 , wherein the two or more transducer elements have a pitch of approximately 40 microns.

4. The ultrasound transducer of claim 1 , wherein the PM has a thickness between approximately 70 microns and approximately 80 microns.

5. The ultrasound transducer of claim 1 , wherein the two or more transducer elements formed by the kerf cuts each further comprise two or more electrically connected sub-elements formed by one or more sub-dice kerf cuts.

6. The ultrasound transducer of claim 5 , wherein a width of the one or more sub-dice kerf cuts is approximately 6 microns.

7. The ultrasound transducer of claim 5 , wherein the one or more sub-dice kerf cuts are formed at a midpoint of each of the one or more transducer elements to maintain an aspect ratio between a width and a thickness of the one or more transducer elements.

8. The ultrasound transducer of claim 5 , wherein the one or more sub-dice kerf cuts have a depth that is:
approximately equal to a depth of the one or more kerf cuts effective to form the one or more transducer elements, such that the sub-dice kerf cuts extend entirely through a thickness of the PM; or
shallower than the depth of the one or more kerf cuts effective to form the one or more transducer elements, such that the sub-dice kerf cuts do not extend entirely through a thickness of the PM.

9. The ultrasound transducer of claim 5 , wherein the one or more sub-dice kerf cuts are formed in a pattern comprising:
a quantity of parallel sub-dice kerf cuts that are cut at an acute angle with respect to the kerf cuts that form the two or more transducer elements in the PM, the parallel sub-dice kerf cuts spaced to maintain a width-to-height ratio less than or equal to about 0.6.

10. The ultrasound transducer of claim 5 , wherein the one or more sub-dice kerf cuts are formed in a pattern comprising:
alternating sets of parallel cuts, the parallel cuts formed at different angles with respect to the direction of the kerf cuts that form the two or more transducer elements in the PM, the alternating sets of differently angled parallel cuts effective to form a set of alternately oriented, triangular transducer sub-elements each having a base that is aligned with a kerf cut defining the transducer element and a height that is a width of the transducer element.

11. The ultrasound transducer of claim 5 , wherein the one or more sub-dice kerf cuts are formed in a pattern comprising:
cuts perpendicular to the kerf cuts that form the two or more transducer elements in the PM, the perpendicular cuts effective to form a set of rectangular sub-elements with a width that corresponds to a distance between the perpendicular cuts and a height that is a width of the transducer element.

12. The ultrasound transducer of claim 5 , wherein the one or more sub-dice kerf cuts are formed in a pattern comprising:
alternating sets of differently angled parallel cuts, including a first set of parallel cuts at an acute angle with respect to the kerf cuts that form the two or more transducer elements in the PM and a second set of parallel cuts perpendicular to the kerf cuts that form the two or more transducer elements in the PM, the alternating sets of differently angled parallel cuts effective to form a set of alternating right triangles with hypotenuses facing each other in the two or more transducer elements in the PM.

13. The ultrasound transducer of claim 5 , wherein the one or more sub-dice kerf cuts are formed in a pattern comprising:
alternating sets of parallel cuts, the parallel cuts formed at different angles with respect to the direction of the kerf cuts that form the two or more transducer elements in the PM, the alternating sets of differently angled parallel cuts effective to form a set of alternately oriented, equilateral triangular transducer sub-elements each having a base that is aligned with a kerf cut that defines a transducer element in the PM and a height that is a width of the transducer element in the PM.

14. The ultrasound transducer of claim 5 , wherein the one or more kerf cuts that form the two or more transducer elements in the PM and the kerf cuts that form the sub-elements are filled with an epoxy material.

15. The ultrasound transducer of claim 1 , wherein a width of the one or more kerf cuts in the PM is approximately 6 microns.

16. A planar phased ultrasound transducer, comprising:
a first layer including:
a sheet of piezoelectric material (PM), the sheet of PM including two or more transducer elements formed by at least one kerf cut in the PM;
a piezo frame fully surrounding an outer perimeter of the sheet of piezoelectric material; and
an adhesive material placed between the piezo frame and the sheet of piezoelectric material;

a flex frame secured to a back side of the first layer;
a conductive grounding layer secured to a front side of the first layer;
at least one matching layer secured to the conductive grounding layer; and
a lens secured to the at least one matching layer.

17. The ultrasound transducer of claim 16 , wherein the two or more transducer elements each further comprise two or more electrically connected sub-elements formed by a pattern of sub-dice kerf cuts.

18. The ultrasound transducer of claim 17 wherein:
the matching layer includes matching layer kerf cuts that are aligned with both the at least one kerf cut in the PM and the pattern of sub-dice kerf cuts.

19. The ultrasound transducer of claim 17 wherein:
the lens includes lens kerf cuts that are aligned with the at least one kerf cut in the PM.

20. The ultrasound transducer of claim 17 wherein an epoxy material is used to fill one or more of:
the at least one kerf cut in the PM;
the matching layer kerf cuts;
the lens kerf cuts; or
the pattern of sub-dice kerf cuts.

Assignees

• Fujifilm Sonosite Inc

Inventors

• Pang Guofeng
• Ivanytskyy Oleg
• Kolaja Robert

Classifications

• B06B1/0696

  with a plurality of electrodes on both sides · CPC title

• G10K11/346

  using phase variation · CPC title

• B06B1/064 Primary

  with multiple active layers · CPC title

• B06B1/0622 Primary

  on one surface · CPC title