An Emerging Era: Conformable Ultrasound Electronics

Abstract

Conformable electronics are regarded as the next generation of personal healthcare monitoring and remote diagnosis devices. In recent years, piezoelectric based conformable ultrasound electronics (cUSE) have been intensively studied due to their unique capabilities, including no‐radiative monitoring, soft tissue imaging, deep signal decoding, wireless power transfer, portability, and compatibility. This review provides a comprehensive understanding of cUSE for use in biomedical and healthcare monitoring systems and a summary of their recent advancements. Following an introduction to the fundamentals of piezoelectrics and ultrasound transducers, the critical parameters for transducer design are discussed. Next, five types of cUSE with their advantages and limitations are highlighted, and the fabrication of cUSE using advanced technologies is discussed. In addition, the working function, acoustic performance, and accomplishments in various applications are thoroughly summarized. We note that application considerations must be given to the tradeoffs between material selection, manufacturing processes, acoustic performance, mechanical integrity, and the entire integrated system. Finally, we highlight current challenges and directions for the development of cUSE, and provide research flow as the roadmap for future research. In conclusion, these advances in the fields of piezoelectric materials, ultrasound transducers, and conformable electronics spark an emerging era of biomedicine and personal healthcare.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved