The fabrication of conformal ultrasound phased arrays for thermal therapy

McGough, Robert J.; Owens, Ajilé; Cindric, D.; Heim, J; Samulski, Thaddeus V.

doi:10.1109/iembs.2000.900384

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Fabrication methods have included attaching bulk piezoelectrics onto flexible printed circuits [1,10], transferring bulk piezoelectrics from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) templates to flexible substrates with adhesive films [11], and mounting transducers onto spring-loaded probe matrices [12]. Many of these have achieved fully-packaged flexible ultrasound transducer devices from high-quality, bulk piezoelectric ceramics, but with limitations to their uniformity and scalability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A conformal ultrasound transducer array featuring microfabricated polyimide joints

et al. 2009

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Due to their increased angular coverage around body surfaces, conformal ultrasound transducers may potentially provide increased signal acquisition relative to rigid medical ultrasound probes and eliminate the need for mechanical scanning. This paper describes a novel, high efficiency, and robust conformal ultrasound transducer array based on a flexible substrate of silicon islands joined together using polyimide joints. The array incorporated diced bulk lead zirconate titanate (PZT) mounted atop the silicon islands as its piezoelectric material for its desirable electromechanical coupling factor and high piezoelectric coefficients. Parylene thin films deposited over the array reinforced the bendable joints, encapsulated the metal film interconnects, and formed, in conjunction with the silicon, an acoustical match between the PZT and soft tissue. Eight element linear arrays were fabricated with a pitch of 3.5 mm, operating at a center frequency of 12 MHz with a 6dB bandwidth of 27%. The robustness of the transducer was demonstrated by iterative bending around a 1 cm diameter cylinder, and the durability of the electrical traces and the frequency performance was measured using a vector network analyzer. This paper presents a robust, durable conformal ultrasound array with the versatility to scale to enable new applications in diagnostic ultrasound imaging.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A conformal ultrasound transducer array featuring microfabricated polyimide joints

et al. 2009

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“…Hayward et al proposed a exible piezoelectric transducer array by embedding ceramic rods in passive polymer matrix, 3,4 and they reported that higher aspect ratio of ceramic rods leads to greater exibility but less durability. Other similar methods have been presented including wrapping thin piezoelectric ceramic ber by polyimide lms, 5 transferring bulk piezoelectric from silicon rubber mold to polyimide substrates with conductive epoxy lm 6 and mounting bulk piezoelectric ceramics onto exible printed circuits. 7,8 However, all these strategies were limited to their large size and poor uniformity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A flexible piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer

et al. 2013

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“…In general, the concept of creating flexible or stretchable ultrasound arrays involves the direct integration of ultrasound transducer elements onto a flexible interconnect substrate. Prior efforts in this area have generally integrated bulk samples of the 5H phase of lead zirconate titanate (PZT-5H) or piezo-composites onto a polymer backing substrate with electrodes for the signal and ground connections [8][9][10] . A notable advance in the field was the introduction of a stretchable patch containing 100 separate 1-3 piezo-composite elements, arranged in a 2D array on a stretchable polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate [11][12][13] .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexible ultrasound transceiver array for non-invasive surface-conformable imaging enabled by geometric phase correction

Elloian

Jadwiszczak

Arslan

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Ultrasound imaging provides the means for non-invasive real-time diagnostics of the internal structure of soft tissue in living organisms. However, the majority of commercially available ultrasonic transducers have rigid interfaces which cannot conform to highly-curved surfaces. These geometric limitations can introduce a signal-quenching air gap for certain topographies, rendering accurate imaging difficult or impractical. Here, we demonstrate a 256-element flexible two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound piezoelectric transducer array with geometric phase correction. We show surface-conformable real-time B-mode imaging, down to an extreme radius of curvature of 1.5 cm, while maintaining desirable performance metrics such as high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and minimal elemental cross-talk at all stages of bending. We benchmark the array capabilities by resolving reflectors buried at known locations in a medical-grade tissue phantom, and demonstrate how phase correction can improve image reconstruction on curved surfaces. With the current array design, we achieve an axial resolution of ≈ 2 mm at clinically-relevant depths in tissue, while operating the array at 1.4 MHz with a bandwidth of ≈ 41%. We use our prototype to image the surface of the human humerus at different positions along the arm, demonstrating proof-of-concept applicability for real-time diagnostics using phase-corrected flexible ultrasound probes.

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The fabrication of conformal ultrasound phased arrays for thermal therapy

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

A conformal ultrasound transducer array featuring microfabricated polyimide joints

A conformal ultrasound transducer array featuring microfabricated polyimide joints

A flexible piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer

Flexible ultrasound transceiver array for non-invasive surface-conformable imaging enabled by geometric phase correction

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