Nonresonant transducers for ultrasound imaging

Abstract

A new class of super wideband, nonresonant and high efficiency ultrasound imaging transducers is described. The design developed uses PVDF piezoelectric material and exhibits pulse-echo sensitivity on a par with that achievable with a conventional, resonant design employing PZT or PZT composite material. The transducers can operate at virtually any clinically relevant frequency which minimizes the trade-off between the achievable penetration depth and desired image resolution and are well suited for both conventional medical imaging in the frequency range 2-12 MHz and high frequency imaging such as ultrasound backscatter microscopy using the frequencies between 20 and 100 MHz. Both simulation results and preliminary experimental data are presented and show very good agreement. The potential for using this approach as a technological breakthrough in the imaging array design is pointed out.