Method of manufacturing ultrasound probe

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9812635-B2
Application number	US-201514607884-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2015
Priority date	Mar 4, 2014
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

Provided is a method of manufacturing an ultrasound probe. The method includes: preparing a backing layer having first and second surfaces with different heights due to forming a groove in the backing layer, wherein first and second electrodes are exposed on the first and second surfaces, respectively; forming a third electrode that is in contact with the first electrode; forming a base piezoelectric unit on the third electrode, the base piezoelectric unit including a piezoelectric layer; forming a piezoelectric unit by removing an upper region of the base piezoelectric unit; and forming a fourth electrode on the backing layer and the piezoelectric unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing an ultrasound probe, the method comprising:
preparing a backing layer having first and second surfaces with different heights due to forming a groove in the backing layer, wherein first and second electrodes are exposed on the first and second surfaces of the backing layer, respectively;
forming a third electrode that is in contact with the first electrode;
forming a base piezoelectric unit on the third electrode, the base piezoelectric unit including a piezoelectric layer;
forming a piezoelectric unit by removing an upper region of the base piezoelectric unit such that an upper surface of the piezoelectric unit is at a same level as the second surface of the backing layer; and
forming a fourth electrode on the second surface of the backing layer and the upper surface of the piezoelectric unit.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming of the third electrode comprises:
forming a conductive material within the groove; and
removing a part of the conductive material formed along sidewalls of the groove.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base piezoelectric unit is formed by using a joining technique.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein during the removing of the upper region of the base piezoelectric unit, upper regions of the backing layer and the second electrode are also removed.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the piezoelectric layer of the piezoelectric unit contacts the fourth electrode.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base piezoelectric unit further comprises a first auxiliary electrode that contacts a top surface of the piezoelectric layer, and
wherein the first auxiliary electrode is removed in the removing of the upper region of the base piezoelectric unit.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base piezoelectric unit further comprises a second auxiliary electrode that contacts a bottom surface of the piezoelectric layer, and
wherein the second auxiliary electrode is in contact with the third electrode in the forming of the base piezoelectric unit.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the piezoelectric layer included in the piezoelectric unit has a thickness of less than or equal to 200 μm.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a matching layer on the fourth electrode.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the matching layer is formed by using at least one of a deposition process and a molding process.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the matching layer has a thickness of less than or equal to 50 μm.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third and fourth electrodes are electrically connected to a chip module substrate for operating the ultrasound probe via first and second electrodes, respectively.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein one of the third and fourth electrodes serves as a ground electrode and the other serves as a signal electrode.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the fourth electrode is a ground electrode.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising dicing the third electrode, the piezoelectric unit, and the fourth electrode to form a plurality of third electrode elements, a plurality of piezoelectric elements, and a plurality of fourth electrode elements.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the preparing of the backing layer comprises:
joining together a first sub-backing layer, the second electrode, a second sub-backing layer, the first electrode, and a third sub-backing layer, all of which are sequentially arranged; and
forming the groove by removing portions of the second sub-backing layer, the first electrode, and the third sub-backing layer.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the second sub-backing layer has a stepped surface.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second electrodes is a flexible printed circuit board (PCB).

Assignees

• Samsung Medison Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jin Gil-Ju
• Park Jung-Lim

Classifications

• A61B8/4483

  characterised by features of the ultrasound transducer · CPC title

• Y10T29/42

  Piezoelectric device making · CPC title

• B06B1/0622 Primary

  on one surface · CPC title

• A61B8/4444 Primary

  related to the probe · CPC title

• A61B8/14

  Echo-tomography · CPC title