This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of single-element ultrahigh frequency (UHF) ultrasonic transducers in which the center frequency ranged from 170 to 320 MHz. The center frequency of > 300 MHz is the highest value of lead-free ceramic ultrasonic transducers ever reported. With concern in the environmental pollution of lead-based materials, the transducer elements presented in this work were lead-free K0.5Na0.5NbO3/Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (KNN/BNT) composite thick films. All transducers were evaluated in a pulse-echo arrangement. The measured −6 dB bandwidth of the transducers ranged from 35 to 64 %. With the optimized piezoelectric properties of the composite film, the insertion loss of the UHF transducers was measured and determined to range from −50 to −60 dB. In addition to the pulse-echo measurement, a 6-μm tungsten wire phantom was also imaged with a 205 MHz transducer to demonstrate the imaging capability. The measured −6 dB axial and lateral resolutions were found to be 12 μm and 50 μm, respectively. The transducer performance presented in this work is shown to be better or comparable to previously reported results even though the frequency is much higher.
Lead-free K0.5Na0.5NbO3/Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (KNN/BNT) films have been fabricated by a composite sol-gel technique. Crystalline KNN fine powder was dispersed in the BNT precursor solution to form a composite slurry which was then spin-coated onto a platinum-buffered Si substrate. Repeated layering and vacuum infiltration were applied to produce 5-μm-thick dense composite film. By optimizing the sintering temperature, the films exhibited good dielectric and ferroelectric properties comparable to PZT films. A 193-MHz high-frequency ultrasonic transducer fabricated from this composite film showed a −6-dB bandwidth of approximately 34%. A tungsten wire phantom was imaged to demonstrate the capability of the transducer.
This report provides modified design of an ultrasonic motor stator transducer, whose top can vibrate along the figure-of-eight locus. The design employs two Langevin type ultrasonic transducers. Operating frequency of one transducer is just doubled as that of the other. Therefore this type of ultrasonic motor has been referred as multimode ultrasonic motor in this research. The modified design employs 2nd order vibration mode to keep mechanical Q factor. Fabrication of the new transducer and motor driving characteristics in the three driving modes, which are figure-of-eight driving, impact driving and DC driving, are reported.
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