Ultrasonic probe apparatus and method of manufacturing ultrasonic probe apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9532767-B2
Application number	US-201313870285-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 25, 2013
Priority date	Apr 25, 2012
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

An ultrasonic probe apparatus and a method of manufacturing the ultrasonic probe apparatus are provided. The ultrasonic probe apparatus may include at least one first tile which transmits an ultrasonic beam toward a target object, and at least one second tile which receives an ultrasonic beam which is reflected from the target object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ultrasonic probe apparatus, comprising:
n first tiles which are disposed on a substrate and which transmit an ultrasonic beam toward a target object; and
m second tiles, which are disposed along a virtual line that is provided in a predetermined form with one of a closed curve and a plurality of straight lines having a single point of contact, and which receive an ultrasonic beam that is reflected from the target object,
wherein each of n and m denotes a natural number, and
wherein at least one second tile from among the m second tiles is disposed noncollinearly at a different height than other second tiles with respect to the substrate, such that a top surface of the at least one second tile resides in a first plane that is different from and parallel to a second plane within which top surfaces of other second tiles reside.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the m second tiles comprises a respective channel which is associated with the ultrasonic beam, and wherein each of the m second tiles is disposed such that each respective channel is disposed on the virtual line.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the n first tiles and each of the m second tiles is disposed such that each of a first gap among respective adjacent pairs of the n first tiles and a second gap among respective adjacent pairs of the m second tiles is maintained to be less than a predetermined value.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the n first tiles and each of the m second tiles comprises a respective Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) and a respective Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT) which is attached to an upper portion of the corresponding ASIC.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein each of the n first tiles and each of the m second tiles is disposed such that one side of each respective ASIC and one side of the corresponding CMUT are disposed collinearly.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein each of the m second tiles further comprises:
an oscillation absorbing material on a side of at least one of the respective ASIC and the corresponding CMUT.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a substrate which comprises a jig in which a tile area within which the m second tiles are to be disposed is patterned along the virtual line, and connected to each of the m second tiles by using a wire.

8. A method for manufacturing an ultrasonic probe apparatus, the method comprising:
providing a substrate which comprises a jig in which a tile area within which tiles are to be disposed is patterned;
disposing, in the jig, n first tiles which transmit an ultrasonic beam toward a target object; and
disposing, in the jig and along a virtual line that is provided in a predetermined form with one of a closed curve and a plurality of straight lines having a single point of contact, m second tiles which receive an ultrasonic beam that is reflected from the target object,
wherein each of n and m denotes a natural number, and
wherein at least one second tile from among the m second tiles is disposed noncollinearly at a different height than other second tiles with respect to the substrate, such that a top surface of the at least one second tile resides in a first plane that is different from and parallel to a second plane within which top surfaces of other second tiles reside.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein each of the m second tiles comprises a respective channel which is associated with the ultrasonic beam, and wherein the disposing the m second tiles comprises disposing each of the m second tiles such that each respective channel is disposed on the virtual line.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
disposing each of the n first tiles and each of the m second tiles such that each of a first gap among respective adjacent pairs of the n first tiles and a second gap among respective adjacent pairs of the m second tiles is maintained to be less than a predetermined value.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein each of the n first tiles comprises a respective Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) and a respective Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT) which is attached to an upper portion of the corresponding ASIC.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein each of the n first tiles is disposed such that one side of each respective ASIC and one side of the corresponding CMUT are disposed collinearly.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein each of the m second tiles comprises at least one of a respective ASIC, a respective CMUT which is attached to an upper portion of the corresponding ASIC, and an oscillation absorbing material which is disposed on a side of at least one of the respective ASIC and the corresponding CMUT.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
connecting the substrate to each of the n first tiles and to each of the m second tiles that are disposed in the jig by using a wire.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Cho Kyung Il
• Kim Dong Wook

Classifications

• B06B1/0292

  Electrostatic transducers, e.g. electret-type · CPC title

• A61B8/4494 Primary

  characterised by the arrangement of the transducer elements · CPC title

• G01S15/8913

  using separate transducers for transmission and reception · CPC title

• A61B8/4477

  using several separate ultrasound transducers or probes · CPC title

• Y10T29/49005

  Acoustic transducer · CPC title