Ultrasonic Transmitter and Receiver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018190896-A1
Application number	US-201715398100-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 4, 2017
Priority date	Jan 4, 2017
Publication date	Jul 5, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

An ultrasonic transmitter and ultrasonic receiver include a piezoelectric layer and at least one conductive layer comprising metal nanoparticles. The metal nanoparticles may be a silver nanoparticle, copper nanoparticle, gold nanoparticle, palladium nanoparticle, nickel nanoparticle, and the mixture thereof. Use of metal nanoparticles as a conductive layer provides for ultrasonic transmitters or receivers with smooth, dense, and highly conductive electrodes, thus resulting in reduced ultrasonic energy loss and improved image quality.

First claim

We claim:

1 . An ultrasonic transmitter comprising:
a piezoelectric layer; a first conductive layer which is above the piezoelectric layer; and a second conductive layer which is below the piezoelectric layer; and wherein at least one of the first and the second conductive layers comprises metal nanoparticles.

2 . The ultrasonic transmitter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first overcoat layer which is above the first conductive layer; and a second overcoat layer which is below the second conductive layer.

3 . The ultrasonic transmitter of claim 1 , wherein the first, the second, or the first and the second conductive layers comprise silver metal nanoparticles.

4 . The ultrasonic transmitter of claim 1 , wherein the first conductive layer is closer to an ultrasonic receiver, and the first conductive layer comprises metal nanoparticles.

5 . The ultrasonic transmitter of claim 1 , wherein the metal nanoparticle is selected from the group consisting of silver nanoparticle, copper nanoparticle, gold nanoparticle, palladium nanoparticle, nickel nanoparticle, and the mixture thereof.

6 . The ultrasonic transmitter of claim 1 , wherein the conductive layers have a thickness from about 1 to about 12 μm, and the conductive layers have a surface roughness (Ra) less than 0.4 μm.

7 . The ultrasonic transmitter of claim 1 , wherein the conductive layers have a thickness from about 5 to about 12 μm, and the conductive layers have a surface roughness (Ra) less than 0.2 μm.

8 . The ultrasonic transmitter of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second conductive layers has a gloss greater than 50 GU.

9 . The ultrasonic transmitter of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the conductive layers has a resistivity less than 8.0×10 −5 ohm-cm.

10 . The ultrasonic transmitter of claim 1 , where in the piezoelectric layer comprises one or more of PZT, PST, quartz, (Pb, Sm)TiO 3 , PMN(PB(MgNb)O 3 )-PT(PbTiO 3 ), PVDF, PVDF-TrFE, P(VDF-tetrafluoroethylene), poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) (P(VDF-HFP), poly(vinylidene fluoride-chlorotrifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-CTFE), and poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE-CFE)).

11 . The ultrasonic transmitter of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the conductive layers has a 90 degree peel adhesion force to the piezoelectric layer greater than 1.0 N/cm.

12 . The ultrasonic transmitter of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the conductive layers comprises metal nanoparticles which are incompletely sintered.

13 . An ultrasonic receiver comprising:
a piezoelectric layer; a conductive layer which is on one side of the piezoelectric layer, wherein the conductive layer comprises metal nanoparticles; and a thin film transistor array which is on the other side of the piezoelectric layer.

14 . The ultrasonic receiver of claim 13 , wherein the conductive layer comprises silver metal nanoparticles.

15 . The ultrasonic receiver of claim 13 , wherein the metal nanoparticle is selected from the group consisting of silver nanoparticle, copper nanoparticle, gold nanoparticle, palladium nanoparticle, nickel nanoparticle, and the mixture thereof.

16 . The ultrasonic receiver of claim 13 , wherein the conductive layer has a thickness from about 5 to about 12 μm, and the conductive layer has a surface roughness (Ra) less than 0.2 μm.

17 . The ultrasonic receiver of claim 13 , wherein the conductive layer has a gloss greater than 50 GU.

18 . The ultrasonic receiver of claim 13 , wherein the conductive layer has a resistivity less than 8.0×10 −5 ohms cm.

19 . The ultrasonic receiver of claim 13 , where in the piezoelectric layer comprises one or more of PZT, PST, quartz, (Pb, Sm)TiO 3 , PMN(PB(MgNb)O 3 )-PT(PbTiO 3 ), PVDF, PVDF-TrFE, P(VDF-tetrafluoroethylene), poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) (P(VDF-HFP), poly(vinylidene fluoride-chlorotrifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-CTFE), and poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE-CFE)).

20 . The ultrasonic receiver of claim 13 , wherein the conductive layer has a 90 degree peel adhesion force to the piezoelectric layer greater than 1.0 N/cm.

21 . The ultrasonic receiver of claim 13 , wherein the conductive layer comprises metal nanoparticles which are incompletely sintered.

22 . An ultrasonic device (transmitter or receiver) comprising:
a PVDF film; and a metal nanoparticle conductive layer, wherein the metal nanoparticle conductive layer is dried and annealed at a temperature no more than 80° C. and has a surface roughness less than 0.2 μm and a resistivity less than 5.0×10 −5 ohm-cm.

Assignees

• Te Connectivity Corp

Inventors

• Wu Yiliang
• Mathews Barry C
• Morales Miguel A
• Radzilowski Leonard H
• Oar Michael A
• Gothe Chaitrali

Classifications

• H01L41/09

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L41/1876

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L41/193

  Electricity · mapped topic

• B06B1/0644 Primary

  using a single piezoelectric element (B06B1/0688 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01L41/1132 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic