CN118510370A - Piezoelectric array element for ultrasonic transducer and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents
Piezoelectric array element for ultrasonic transducer and manufacturing method thereof Download PDFInfo
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B06—GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS IN GENERAL
- B06B—METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS OF INFRASONIC, SONIC, OR ULTRASONIC FREQUENCY, e.g. FOR PERFORMING MECHANICAL WORK IN GENERAL
- B06B1/00—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency
- B06B1/02—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency making use of electrical energy
- B06B1/06—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency making use of electrical energy operating with piezoelectric effect or with electrostriction
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H10N—ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H10N30/00—Piezoelectric or electrostrictive devices
- H10N30/01—Manufacture or treatment
- H10N30/06—Forming electrodes or interconnections, e.g. leads or terminals
- H10N30/063—Forming interconnections, e.g. connection electrodes of multilayered piezoelectric or electrostrictive parts
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H10N—ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H10N30/00—Piezoelectric or electrostrictive devices
- H10N30/80—Constructional details
- H10N30/87—Electrodes or interconnections, e.g. leads or terminals
- H10N30/875—Further connection or lead arrangements, e.g. flexible wiring boards, terminal pins
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H10N—ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H10N39/00—Integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one piezoelectric, electrostrictive or magnetostrictive element covered by groups H10N30/00 – H10N35/00
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B06—GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS IN GENERAL
- B06B—METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS OF INFRASONIC, SONIC, OR ULTRASONIC FREQUENCY, e.g. FOR PERFORMING MECHANICAL WORK IN GENERAL
- B06B2201/00—Indexing scheme associated with B06B1/0207 for details covered by B06B1/0207 but not provided for in any of its subgroups
- B06B2201/70—Specific application
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Abstract
A piezoelectric array element for an ultrasonic transducer and a manufacturing method thereof comprise the following steps: plating electrodes on two sides of the piezoelectric layer, forming a signal electrode on one side of the emitting surface, forming a grounding electrode on the other side of the emitting surface, and leading out the grounding electrode from a backing layer of the piezoelectric array element; providing a conductive matching layer, and leading the signal electrode out of the working area of the piezoelectric array element; a non-piezoelectric material region is arranged on the piezoelectric layer, and the signal electrode is led out from the non-piezoelectric material region through the conductive matching layer; the working frequency of the piezoelectric array element is more than or equal to 20MHz, and the area of the working area is less than or equal to 1.0 square millimeter; according to the invention, the non-piezoelectric material area is arranged on the piezoelectric layer, and the electrode is led out to the position outside the non-working area of the piezoelectric array element through the conductive matching layer, so that the influence of sound performance caused by spot coating of conductive silver paste is eliminated on the premise of ensuring that the effective size of the piezoelectric array element is unchanged.
Description
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the technical field of ultrasonic transducers, and particularly relates to a piezoelectric array element for an ultrasonic transducer and a manufacturing method thereof.
Background
As an important supplementary means of coronary angiography, intravascular ultrasound (IntraVascular Ultrasound, IVUS) improves the accuracy of lesion diagnosis, and has important guiding significance for strategies, stent selection and effect evaluation of coronary intervention treatment (Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, PCI).
IVUS systems typically consist of an ultrasound catheter, a proximal drive module, and an ultrasound imaging system. The ultrasonic catheter mainly comprises an ultrasonic transducer, a sheath tube, a transmission shaft and the like, and ultrasonic signals are transmitted and received by the ultrasonic transducer to acquire structural information in a blood vessel. The proximal drive module is mainly responsible for drive control and signal transmission between the ultrasound catheter and the imaging system. The ultrasonic imaging system is mainly used for data processing and imaging.
Miniature ultrasound transducers mounted at the distal end of an ultrasound catheter of an IVUS system are a core component of the IVUS technology. The IVUS system utilizes an ultrasonic catheter to place an ultrasonic transducer into a blood vessel to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals, so that a blood vessel cross-section image, the thickness of a blood vessel wall structure, the size and the shape of a lumen and the like can be displayed in real time, the diameter and the cross-section of the blood vessel cavity can be accurately measured, and even lesions such as calcification, fibrosis and lipid pool can be identified, and early lesions of the blood vessel which cannot be displayed by coronary angiography can be found.
IVUS ultrasonic transducers are typically composed of piezoelectric material, backing, matching layers, and electrode lead-out structures, both array and single array types. The array transducer utilizes array elements to be arranged in a cylindrical structure, so that 360-degree imaging of the inside of a blood vessel is realized. The single-array element transducer drives the transducer to rotate by utilizing the driving shaft to realize 360-degree imaging of the inside of the blood vessel. The smaller the size of the miniature ultrasonic transducer at the far end of the IVUS ultrasonic catheter, the finer the blood vessel can be detected, and the size of the transducer can be made small by the single-array element transducer due to the small number of the array elements. Typically, the single-element IVUS ultrasonic transducer is rectangular with a surface length of less than 1mm by 1mm or circular with a surface diameter of less than 1mm, and has a center frequency of 20MHz or more. The IVUS ultrasonic transducer has great difficulty in processing materials of each layer and extracting electrodes due to small size and high frequency.
The current IVUS single-array element ultrasonic transducer is mainly realized through the following process steps:
step one, grinding the two sides of the piezoelectric material to a thickness corresponding to the design frequency, wherein the thickness is generally smaller than 0.1mm;
Step two, plating electrode layers on the two sides of the piezoelectric material;
Pouring a conductive backing layer on one side of the piezoelectric material;
Dividing the piezoelectric material plated with the electrode layer and the conductive emitting surface back lining into final sizes;
and fifthly, extracting an electrode. The grounding electrode is led out through the conductive backing and is communicated with the grounding wire of the coaxial cable; the signal electrode is led out of conductive material at edge point of surface coating of piezoelectric material, and is communicated with signal line of coaxial cable.
And step six, depositing a matching layer and a protective layer on the emitting surface of the piezoelectric material.
The manufacturing process mainly has the following two defects:
1) The signal pole leading-out mode occupies part of the emitting surface, and the performance of the transducer is affected.
The piezoelectric material is divided into final sizes in a slitting mode after being plated with an electrode layer when the transducer is manufactured by the prior art. The piezoelectric material of this final size forms a signal pole plating surface and a ground plating surface, and both surfaces are non-conductive. The electrode extraction process generally uses a mode of pouring a conductive backing on one side of the piezoelectric material to extract a grounding electrode, and applies conductive adhesive on a plating point on the other side of the piezoelectric material and extends the conductive adhesive to the outside of the piezoelectric material to extract a signal electrode. The impedance of the conductive adhesive material is different from that of the matching layer material deposited later, and the thickness of the conductive adhesive material which is dotted on the signal pole face is not easy to control, so that the boundary condition of the piezoelectric material is affected, and the performance of the transducer is reduced, and the performance consistency among products is reduced.
2) And the number of matching layers is limited in a mode of depositing the matching layers and the protective layers after the electrodes are led out.
After the piezoelectric material is divided into rectangular small blocks with the length and the width smaller than 1mm and the electrodes are led out, the surface is uneven due to the fact that the size of the piezoelectric material is too small and conductive silver glue points on the signal surface, and a matching layer cannot be attached to the emitting surface of the piezoelectric material in an adhesive mode. The matching layer is cast, so that the matching layer material is easy to diffuse to the periphery of the piezoelectric material in the casting process to influence the size of the final transducer, and the thickness of the casting material is not easy to control. While the current methods of depositing matching layers can control the thickness of the deposited material by controlling the power and deposition time of the deposition apparatus, the limited materials available for deposition limit the choice of transducer matching layers, resulting in a multi-matching layer transducer that is not easy to fabricate. The current common use for deposition is a Parylene-C material, with an acoustic impedance less than 3MRayl, which differs significantly from that of piezoelectric materials, especially piezoelectric ceramics (typically with an acoustic impedance greater than 30 MRayl), so that the sensitivity and bandwidth of IVUS ultrasound transducers are generally not high.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to provide a piezoelectric array element for an ultrasonic transducer and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein a non-piezoelectric material area is arranged on a piezoelectric layer, and an electrode is led out to a position outside the non-working area of the piezoelectric array element through a conductive matching layer, so that the influence of sound performance caused by spot coating of conductive silver paste is eliminated on the premise of ensuring that the effective size of the piezoelectric array element is unchanged.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the technical scheme adopted by the invention is as follows:
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a piezoelectric array element for an ultrasonic transducer, including the steps of:
Plating electrodes on two sides of the piezoelectric layer, forming a signal electrode on one side of the emitting surface, forming a grounding electrode on the other side of the emitting surface, and leading out the grounding electrode from a backing layer of the piezoelectric array element;
Providing a conductive matching layer, and leading the signal electrode out of the working area of the piezoelectric array element.
In some specific technical solutions, the method further comprises the steps of:
and a non-piezoelectric material area is arranged on the piezoelectric layer, and the signal electrode is led out from the non-piezoelectric material area through the conductive matching layer.
In some preferred embodiments, the manner of disposing the non-piezoelectric material region on the piezoelectric layer is as follows:
Cutting piezoelectric material at intervals larger than the designed length of the piezoelectric array element, and filling insulating material in the cutting slits to form the non-piezoelectric material areas.
In some preferred embodiments, the step of fabricating the piezoelectric layer further includes:
After electrodes are plated on both sides of the piezoelectric layer, the thickness of the piezoelectric material is cut along one side of the piezoelectric material and the insulating strips formed so that the insulating material separates from the piezoelectric material, thereby forming an air gap.
In some preferred embodiments, the manner of disposing the non-piezoelectric material region on the piezoelectric layer is as follows:
After the piezoelectric material is not cut into the conductive matching layer, the backing material and the piezoelectric material are cut off at the end part of the piezoelectric array element in the length direction along the width direction, and the cutting depth is required to be greater than or equal to the total thickness of the backing layer and the piezoelectric layer.
In some preferred embodiments, the manner of disposing the non-piezoelectric material region on the piezoelectric layer is as follows:
Cutting piezoelectric material along the width direction of the piezoelectric array element, filling conductive material in the kerf, cutting a groove on one side of the backing layer according to the length of the piezoelectric array element after the conductive matching layer is completed, filling insulating material, and ensuring that the depth of the groove is larger than the sum of the thicknesses of the backing and the piezoelectric material.
In some preferred technical solutions, the manufacturing steps of the conductive matching layer are as follows:
One or more conductive strips are formed by cutting along the length direction of the piezoelectric array element, or one or more mutually-crossed conductive strips are formed by cutting along the length direction and the width direction of the piezoelectric array element respectively.
In some preferred embodiments, the conductive strips of the conductive matching layer are coincident with the non-piezoelectric material regions of the piezoelectric layer.
In some preferred technical schemes, the conductive matching layers are overlapped multi-layers, and at least one pair of conductive strips between adjacent conductive matching layers have overlapped parts;
when the signal pole is finally led out from the outer surface of the conductive matching layer, conductive materials exist in the non-piezoelectric material area corresponding to the conductive matching layer on the outermost layer;
When the signal pole is finally led out from the outer surface of the backing layer on the side of the piezoelectric layer away from the matching layer, at least the non-piezoelectric material region corresponding to the conductive matching layer of the innermost layer is provided with conductive material.
In some preferred technical schemes, the conductive matching layer is formed by plating conductive layers on two sides of the matching layer; or alternatively
The conductive matching layer is made of conductive materials.
In some specific technical schemes, the method comprises the following specific steps:
Manufacturing a piezoelectric layer:
Cutting piezoelectric materials at intervals larger than the designed length of the piezoelectric array elements, filling insulating materials into the grooves, and curing;
plating an electrode on one surface of the piezoelectric material, and casting or pasting a backing layer on the surface of the plated electrode;
Thinning the piezoelectric material to a designed thickness from the non-plated electrode surface of the piezoelectric material, and plating an electrode on the thinned surface;
manufacturing a conductive matching layer:
cutting the large matching layer material along the length direction of the piezoelectric array element or respectively cutting the large matching layer material along the length direction and the width direction, and filling conductive materials into the cutting grooves;
the two sides of the matching layer are thinned to expose the conducting strips and thinned to the designed thickness to be adhered with the piezoelectric layer, or the one sides of the matching layer are thinned to expose the conducting strips, the surfaces of the exposed conducting strips are adhered with the piezoelectric layer, and the other sides of the matching layer are thinned until the conducting strips are exposed and thinned to the designed thickness;
or the conductive matching layer is made of conductive materials;
or the two sides of the conductive matching layer are plated with conductive layers;
manufacturing a piezoelectric array element:
the piezoelectric material bonded with the conductive matching layer is cut into single array elements, one end of the array element in the length direction is made of the piezoelectric material, the other end of the array element is made of filled insulating material, and the signal electrode and the grounding electrode are led out from the same surface or different surfaces of the piezoelectric material.
In some preferred embodiments, when the conductive matching layer is bonded, the conductive strips of the conductive matching layer in the width direction are placed in registration with the insulating strips of the piezoelectric material, and/or,
The piezoelectric array element has 1 and more than 1 matching layer and at least the innermost matching layer is conductive.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a piezoelectric array element manufactured by the above manufacturing method, wherein the operating frequency of the piezoelectric array element is 20MHz or more, and the area of the operating region is 1.0 mm square or less.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is further provided an ultrasonic transducer having the piezoelectric array element described above.
The technical scheme adopted by the invention has at least the following beneficial effects:
1. according to the piezoelectric array element for the ultrasonic transducer and the manufacturing method thereof, the non-piezoelectric material area of the piezoelectric layer is increased to lead out the signal electrode to the position outside the non-working area of the piezoelectric array element through the conductive matching layer, on one hand, the conductive material of the lead-out electrode is arranged in the non-piezoelectric material area and deviates from the emission area of sound waves, so that the boundary condition of the piezoelectric material can be prevented from being influenced by the impedance difference of the conductive matching layer, the imaging resolution and sensitivity of the ultrasonic transducer are improved, and the consistency of the performances among products is improved; on the other hand, the signal pole is led out through the conductive matching layer, so that the flatness of the front surface of the piezoelectric layer can be ensured, the pouring and the pasting of the conductive matching layer are facilitated, and more matching layer materials can be applied;
2. According to the piezoelectric array element for the ultrasonic transducer and the manufacturing method thereof, provided by the invention, the piezoelectric material is cut at intervals larger than the designed length and the size of the piezoelectric array element, and the slits are filled with the insulating material, so that a non-piezoelectric material area is formed, the width of the manufactured piezoelectric array element is the same as that of the conventional process, and the long side is slightly longer than that of the conventional process, but the effective length of the piezoelectric material is the same as that of the conventional process, so that the influence of sound performance brought by spot coating of conductive silver paste is eliminated under the condition that the effective working area of the ultrasonic transducer is unchanged;
3. According to the piezoelectric array element for the ultrasonic transducer and the manufacturing method thereof, after electrodes are plated on two sides of the piezoelectric layer, the thickness of the piezoelectric material is cut along one side of the piezoelectric material and one side of the insulating strip formed, so that the insulating material is separated from the piezoelectric material, an air interval is formed, and the piezoelectric material is prevented from driving the insulating material to vibrate transversely when vibrating, and the piezoelectric performance is prevented from being influenced;
4. According to the piezoelectric array element for the ultrasonic transducer and the manufacturing method thereof, the non-piezoelectric material area of the piezoelectric layer is arranged at one end of the piezoelectric array element in the length direction, so that the piezoelectric array element has the characteristic of convenience in implementation;
5. according to the piezoelectric array element for the ultrasonic transducer and the manufacturing method thereof, provided by the invention, under the condition that the material of the matching layer is not conductive and the two sides of the matching layer are not plated with the conductive layer, the arrangement scheme of the conductive strips on the matching layer is provided, and the conductive strips can be one or more conductive strips which are arranged along the length direction of the piezoelectric array element or 1 or more conductive strips which are mutually intersected and arranged along the length direction and the diameter direction of the piezoelectric array element; preferably, conductive layers are plated on the upper surface and the lower surface of the matching layer; preferably, during bonding, the conducting strips of the matching layer are superposed with the insulating strips of the piezoelectric material;
6. According to the piezoelectric array element for the ultrasonic transducer and the manufacturing method thereof, the signal electrode and the grounding electrode can be led out from the same surface or different surfaces of the piezoelectric material; when a plurality of conductive matching layers are correspondingly arranged, at least one pair of conductive strips between adjacent conductive matching layers have an overlapping part, and when a signal pole is finally led out from the outer surface of the conductive matching layer, a non-piezoelectric material area corresponding to the conductive matching layer at the outermost layer has conductive materials; when the signal pole is finally led out from the outer surface of the backing layer, at least the non-piezoelectric material area corresponding to the conductive matching layer of the innermost layer is provided with conductive material;
7. according to the piezoelectric array element for the ultrasonic transducer and the manufacturing method thereof, the piezoelectric material is bonded with all the matching layers and then is divided into the final size, so that the bonding of the matching layers and the control of the thickness of the casting layer are easy;
8. The invention provides a piezoelectric array element for an ultrasonic transducer and a manufacturing method thereof. The signal poles can be led out by exchange, namely, the signal poles are led out by the conductive back lining, and the grounding poles are led out by the outer surface of the conductive matching layer, so that the protection of the invention claims is not affected;
9. the high-frequency ultrasonic transducer manufactured by the piezoelectric array element for the ultrasonic transducer and the manufacturing method thereof provided by the invention has a single piezoelectric array element, the working frequency of the piezoelectric array element is more than or equal to 20MHz, and the area of a working area is less than or equal to 1.0 square millimeter.
Drawings
For a clearer description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, reference will be made to the drawings and the signs used in the embodiments, and it is obvious that the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention, and other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort for a person skilled in the art.
Fig. 1 is a process flow chart of a method for manufacturing a piezoelectric array element according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a piezoelectric array element according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a piezoelectric array element according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a top view of a piezoelectric array element according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention facing a conductive matching layer;
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a piezoelectric array element according to example II of the present invention in the long axis direction;
Fig. 6 is a top view of a piezoelectric array element according to example two of the present invention facing a conductive matching layer;
FIG. 7 is one of the cross-sectional views of a piezoelectric array element according to example III of the present invention in the long axis direction;
fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a piezoelectric array element according to an example three of the present invention in the long axis direction;
Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a piezoelectric array element according to example four of the present invention in the long axis direction;
fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a piezoelectric array element according to example four of the present invention in the long axis direction.
The meaning of the reference symbols in the figures is as follows:
10-a conductive matching layer, 11-a conductive strip;
20-piezoelectric layer, 21-piezoelectric material, 22/23-insulating material, 24-air space;
30-backing layer.
Detailed Description
In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following description will explain the specific embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is evident that the drawings in the following description are only examples of the invention, from which other drawings and other embodiments can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without inventive effort.
For simplicity of the drawing, only the parts relevant to the invention are schematically shown in each drawing, and they do not represent the actual structure thereof as a product. Additionally, in order to simplify the drawing for ease of understanding, components having the same structure or function in some of the drawings are shown schematically with only one of them, or only one of them is labeled. Herein, "a" means not only "only this one" but also "more than one" case.
It should be further understood that the term "and/or" as used in the present specification and the appended claims refers to any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items, and includes such combinations.
In this context, it should be noted that the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected, unless explicitly stated or limited otherwise; can be mechanically or electrically connected; can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and can be communication between two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention will be understood in specific cases by those of ordinary skill in the art.
In addition, in the description of the present application, the terms "first," "second," and the like are used merely to distinguish between descriptions and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.
In the invention, the relative positional relationship of the front and the rear refers to the front end and the rear end of the transmission direction of the acoustic wave of the piezoelectric array element; "longitudinal" refers to the azimuthal relationship of the ultrasound transducer in the length direction of the catheter; while "width direction" refers to the diameter of the catheter in which the ultrasound transducer is located.
In one embodiment, an ultrasonic transducer is provided, including single piezoelectric array element, the piezoelectric array element sets gradually conductive matching layer, piezoelectric layer and backing layer from front to back, wherein, has non-piezoelectric material region on the piezoelectric layer, and the two sides of piezoelectric layer are provided with the electrode layer through electroplating, and above-mentioned piezoelectric array element still includes electrode extraction structure, specifically contains signal pole cable and earth electrode cable, and signal pole cable is drawn forth by the non-piezoelectric material region that conductive matching layer corresponds, and earth electrode cable is drawn forth by the backing layer.
The conductive material of the leading-out signal electrode is arranged in the non-piezoelectric material area and deviates from the emission area of the sound wave, so that the boundary condition of the piezoelectric material can be prevented from being influenced by the impedance difference between the conductive material and the matching layer, the imaging resolution and the sensitivity of the ultrasonic transducer are improved, and the consistency of the performance among products is improved.
In the above embodiment, the non-piezoelectric material region is a partition structure formed on the piezoelectric layer, and specifically may be formed by cutting and filling an insulating material; in the embodiment, large pieces of piezoelectric material can be cut at intervals larger than the length dimension of the designed piezoelectric array element, so that the effective working area of the piezoelectric array element can be maintained, and the influence of sound performance caused by spot coating of conductive silver paste is eliminated.
In some preferred embodiments, the cuts or slits formed by cutting the piezoelectric material are arranged along the width direction of the piezoelectric layer, and more preferably, the cuts or slits are arranged at the end parts of the piezoelectric layer along the length direction, either at one end or at both ends; specifically, one end of the piezoelectric layer in the length direction is made of piezoelectric material, and the other end of the piezoelectric layer is made of filled insulating material; the design is convenient for control the effective length of the piezoelectric array element in the length direction, and further eliminates the influence of sound performance caused by spot coating of conductive silver paste under the condition of ensuring that the effective size of the piezoelectric array element is unchanged.
Further, an air gap 24 is arranged between the piezoelectric material and the insulating material, so that the piezoelectric material is prevented from vibrating transversely to influence the piezoelectric performance.
In the above embodiment, the conductive matching layer may be formed by plating conductive layers on both sides of the matching layer; or the matching layer is made of conductive material. When the conducting layer is not plated on the two sides of the conducting matching layer and is made of non-conducting materials, the conducting strips are arranged on the conducting matching layer, the conducting strips are led out of the signal poles corresponding to the non-piezoelectric material areas, the flatness of the front surface of the piezoelectric layer can be guaranteed, the casting and the pasting of the conducting matching layer are facilitated, and more matching layer materials can be used.
In some specific embodiments, the conductive matching layer is provided with one or more conductive strips arranged along the length direction, or 1 or more conductive strips mutually crossed along the length direction and the diameter direction; when 1 conducting strip is arranged in the effective area of the piezoelectric array element, cutting the large matching layer material at intervals larger than the size of the piezoelectric array element; when the plurality of conductive strips are arranged in the same direction in the effective area of the piezoelectric array element, the plurality of conductive strips are cut on the large matching layer material at intervals smaller than the size of the piezoelectric array element.
Preferably, the conductive strips arranged in the diameter direction on the conductive matching layer coincide with the positions of the insulating strips on the piezoelectric layer.
In some preferred embodiments, the conductive matching layers are laminated, and at least one pair of conductive strips between adjacent conductive matching layers have a superposition part; when the signal pole is finally led out from the outer surface of the conductive matching layer, conductive materials exist in the non-piezoelectric material area corresponding to the conductive matching layer on the outermost layer; when the signal pole is finally led out from the outer surface of the backing layer on one side of the piezoelectric layer far away from the conductive matching layer, at least the non-piezoelectric material area corresponding to the conductive matching layer of the innermost layer is provided with conductive material.
The working frequency of the piezoelectric array element provided by the embodiment is more than or equal to 20MHz, the area of the effective working area is less than or equal to 1.0 square millimeter, and the effective working area of the piezoelectric array element is a part of the corresponding piezoelectric layer excluding the non-piezoelectric material area; specifically, the piezoelectric material is selected from piezoelectric ceramics, piezoelectric single crystals, piezoelectric composite materials or piezoelectric films.
In another embodiment, the invention provides a method for manufacturing a piezoelectric array element for an ultrasonic transducer, which comprises the following steps:
Plating electrodes on two sides of the piezoelectric layer, forming a signal electrode on one side of the emitting surface, forming a grounding electrode on the other side of the emitting surface, and leading out the grounding electrode from a backing layer of the piezoelectric array element;
providing a conductive matching layer, and leading out the signal electrode to a position outside the working area of the piezoelectric array element.
The piezoelectric layer is provided with a non-piezoelectric material area, and the signal electrode is led out from the non-piezoelectric material area through the conductive matching layer.
According to the embodiment, the signal pole is led out from the non-piezoelectric material area through the conductive matching layer, so that the conductive material of the leading-out electrode is arranged in the non-piezoelectric material area and deviates from the emission area of the sound wave, the boundary condition of the piezoelectric material can be prevented from being influenced by the impedance difference between the conductive material and the matching layer, the imaging resolution and the sensitivity of the ultrasonic transducer are improved, and the consistency of the performance among products is improved; and the signal pole is led out through the conductive matching layer, so that the flatness of the front surface of the piezoelectric layer can be ensured, the pouring and the pasting of the conductive matching layer are facilitated, and more matching layer materials can be applied.
In a preferred embodiment, the non-piezoelectric material region is disposed on the piezoelectric layer in a manner that: cutting piezoelectric material at intervals larger than the designed length of the piezoelectric array element, and filling insulating material in the cutting slits to form non-piezoelectric material areas. The design is convenient for control the effective length of the piezoelectric array element in the length direction, and further eliminates the influence of sound performance caused by spot coating of conductive silver paste under the condition of ensuring that the effective size of the piezoelectric array element is unchanged.
Preferably, after electrodes are plated on both sides of the piezoelectric layer, the thickness of the piezoelectric material is cut along one side of the piezoelectric material and the insulating strips formed so that the insulating material separates from the piezoelectric material, thereby forming air gaps 24.
In another preferred embodiment, the non-piezoelectric material region is disposed on the piezoelectric layer in a specific manner: after the piezoelectric material is not cut into the conductive matching layer, the backing material and the piezoelectric material are cut off at the end part of the piezoelectric array element in the length direction along the width direction, and the cutting depth is required to be greater than or equal to the total thickness of the backing layer and the piezoelectric layer.
In a further preferred embodiment, the non-piezoelectric material region is provided on the piezoelectric layer in a manner that: cutting piezoelectric material along the width direction of the piezoelectric array element, filling conductive material in the kerf, cutting a groove on one side of the backing layer according to the length of the piezoelectric array element after the conductive matching layer is completed, filling insulating material, and ensuring that the depth of the groove is larger than the sum of the thicknesses of the backing and the piezoelectric material.
In the above embodiment, the conductive matching layer may be directly formed by plating conductive layers on both sides, or may be formed by a matching layer made of a conductive material; or cutting to form conductive strips; specifically, the manufacturing process of the conductive strip comprises the following steps: cutting along the length direction of the piezoelectric array element to form one or more conductive strips, or cutting along the length direction and the width direction of the piezoelectric array element to form one or more mutually-crossed conductive strips respectively; preferably, the conductive strips of the conductive matching layer coincide with the non-piezoelectric material areas of the piezoelectric layer.
In a preferred embodiment, the conductive matching layers are laminated, and at least one pair of conductive strips between adjacent conductive matching layers have a superposition part; when the signal pole is finally led out from the outer surface of the conductive matching layer, conductive materials exist in the non-piezoelectric material area corresponding to the conductive matching layer on the outermost layer; when the signal pole is finally led out from the outer surface of the backing layer on the side of the piezoelectric layer away from the matching layer, at least the non-piezoelectric material region corresponding to the conductive matching layer of the innermost layer is provided with conductive material.
In yet another embodiment, the invention provides a piezoelectric array element and an ultrasonic transducer thereof, wherein the working frequency of the piezoelectric array element is greater than or equal to 20MHz, and the area of the working area is less than or equal to 1.0 square millimeter.
In order to provide a clearer understanding of the technical scheme and the technical effects thereof, the following specific examples are now provided:
Example one
Referring to fig. 1, the fabrication steps of the piezoelectric array element for the ultrasonic transducer are as follows:
1. Piezoelectric material grinding gold plating
Grinding the upper and lower surfaces of the large piezoelectric material to be flat, wherein the thickness is larger than the thickness of the design frequency;
Cutting the surface of the piezoelectric material at intervals larger than the designed length dimension of the piezoelectric array element in one or more directions, wherein the cutting depth is smaller than the thickness of the piezoelectric material;
filling the slot with an insulating material 22, such as epoxy, and after curing, grinding the piezoelectric material 21 on both sides to expose each side of the slot;
Plating an electrode on one surface of the piezoelectric material 21, casting or applying a backing material on the surface of the plated electrode, and then grinding the backing layer 30 to be flat;
The piezoelectric material 21 is thinned from the surface of the piezoelectric material 21 where the electrode is not plated to the thickness of the design frequency, and the electrode is plated on the thinned surface.
2. Making conductive matching layers (see figures 2-4 in combination)
Cutting large matching layer materials with two ground surfaces along the length direction of the piezoelectric array element, and filling conductive materials into the cutting grooves when the piezoelectric array element has only one matching layer and the matching layer has only one conductive strip, wherein the cutting interval is larger than or equal to the designed width of the piezoelectric array element;
The matching layer is thinned to expose the conductive strips 11 on both sides and to the designed thickness, and then the matching layer can be plated with/without the conductive layer on both sides, and is adhered to the electrode surface of the piezoelectric material 21; the conductive strip 11 may be thinned to expose one side, the conductive layer may be plated or not plated on the exposed conductive strip, and the electrode surface of the piezoelectric material may be bonded, and the other side of the matching layer may be thinned to expose the conductive strip 11 and thinned to the designed thickness, or the conductive layer may be plated or not plated. In the bonding process, the conductive strips 11 of the conductive matching layer 10 and the insulating strips of the piezoelectric material 21 are preferably placed in a superposition manner, or may be placed in a non-superposition manner, and a conductive area is required in a non-working area of the transducer in the non-superposition manner.
Manufacturing a piezoelectric array element:
Dividing the piezoelectric material 21 bonded with the conductive matching layer 10 into single piezoelectric array elements, wherein one end of each piezoelectric array element in the length direction is provided with the piezoelectric material 21, the other end is provided with a filled insulating material 22, and the conductive strips 11 of each transducer matching layer are distributed along the length direction of the transducer; the signal electrode and the grounding electrode are led out on the same surface or different surfaces of the piezoelectric material.
Example two
Referring to fig. 5-6, the fabrication process is substantially the same as that of example one, except that:
The matching layers are respectively cut along the length direction and the width direction of the piezoelectric array element and filled with conductive materials; the conductive strips 11 filled along the width direction of the piezoelectric array element are aligned with the insulating strips of the piezoelectric material when the matching layer is bonded with the piezoelectric material.
Example three
Referring to fig. 7-8, similar to the fabrication process of example one, the difference steps are:
After the conductive matching layer is bonded without cutting the grooves of the piezoelectric material, the backing material and the conductive strips 11 of the innermost conductive matching layer 10 are cut off at one end of the piezoelectric array element in the length direction along the width direction.
Example four
Referring to fig. 9 to 10, after the piezoelectric ceramic is cut according to the first embodiment, a conductive material is filled in the slot, and then the piezoelectric ceramic is manufactured according to the first embodiment/second embodiment, after the conductive matching layer is completed, the slot is formed on the back side of the piezoelectric array element according to the length dimension of the piezoelectric array element, and an insulating material 23 is filled, wherein the cutting depth is greater than the sum of the thicknesses of the back layer 30 and the piezoelectric layer 20. After curing, the large sheet material is then divided into final piezoelectric array element sizes as per example one.
Example five
The piezoelectric array element is provided with a plurality of conductive matching layers 10, and if the conductive matching layers 10 are not plated on two sides and the matching layers are not conductive, at least one pair of conductive strips 11 between each adjacent matching layers have a superposition part. If two electrodes of piezoelectric material are led out from the matching layer surface and the backing layer surface respectively, conductive material needs to exist in the non-working area of the outermost matching layer of the transducer. If both electrodes of piezoelectric material are led out of the backing face, then the first matching layer of the non-working area of the transducer needs to be present with conductive material. The most preferred solution is that the conductive strips 11 of the matching layer and the insulating strips of piezoelectric material are located on one short side of the transducer, i.e. the non-working area of the transducer.
Example six
In examples 1 to 5, when a certain matching layer material is conductive, the matching layer is not required to be manufactured by manufacturing a conductive strip after cutting, and the layer material can be directly ground to be thinner to the design thickness.
The foregoing examples illustrate only a few embodiments of the invention and are described in detail herein without thereby limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, which are all within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be assessed as that of the appended claims.
Claims (10)
1. The method for manufacturing the piezoelectric array element for the ultrasonic transducer is characterized by comprising the following steps:
Plating electrodes on two sides of the piezoelectric layer, forming a signal electrode on one side of the emitting surface, forming a grounding electrode on the other side of the emitting surface, and leading out the grounding electrode from a backing layer of the piezoelectric array element;
Providing a conductive matching layer, and leading the signal electrode out of the working area of the piezoelectric array element;
The working frequency of the piezoelectric array element is more than or equal to 20MHz, and the area of the working area is less than or equal to 1.0 square millimeter.
2. The method of manufacturing according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:
and a non-piezoelectric material area is arranged on the piezoelectric layer, and the signal electrode is led out from the non-piezoelectric material area through the conductive matching layer.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the non-piezoelectric material region is disposed on the piezoelectric layer in such a manner that:
Cutting piezoelectric material at intervals larger than the designed length of the piezoelectric array element, and filling insulating material in the cutting slits to form the non-piezoelectric material areas.
4. The method of manufacturing according to claim 3, wherein the step of manufacturing the piezoelectric layer further comprises:
After electrodes are plated on both sides of the piezoelectric layer, the thickness of the piezoelectric material is cut along one side of the piezoelectric material and the insulating strips formed so that the insulating material separates from the piezoelectric material, thereby forming an air gap.
5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the non-piezoelectric material region is disposed on the piezoelectric layer in such a manner that:
After the piezoelectric material is not cut into the conductive matching layer, the backing material and the piezoelectric material are cut off at the end part of the piezoelectric array element in the length direction along the width direction, and the cutting depth is required to be greater than or equal to the total thickness of the backing layer and the piezoelectric layer.
6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the non-piezoelectric material region is disposed on the piezoelectric layer in such a manner that:
Cutting piezoelectric material along the width direction of the piezoelectric array element, filling conductive material in the kerf, cutting a groove on one side of the backing layer according to the length of the piezoelectric array element after the conductive matching layer is completed, filling insulating material, and ensuring that the depth of the groove is larger than the sum of the thicknesses of the backing and the piezoelectric material.
7. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the step of fabricating the conductive matching layer comprises:
Cutting along the length direction of the piezoelectric array element to form one or more conductive strips, or cutting along the length direction and the width direction of the piezoelectric array element to form one or more mutually-crossed conductive strips respectively;
at least one of the conductive strips has a region partially or fully coincident with the non-piezoelectric material of the piezoelectric layer.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein,
The conductive matching layers are overlapped layers, and at least one pair of conductive strips between adjacent conductive matching layers have overlapped parts;
when the signal pole is finally led out from the outer surface of the conductive matching layer, conductive materials exist in the non-piezoelectric material area corresponding to the conductive matching layer on the outermost layer;
When the signal pole is finally led out from the outer surface of the backing layer on the side of the piezoelectric layer away from the matching layer, at least the non-piezoelectric material region corresponding to the conductive matching layer of the innermost layer is provided with conductive material.
9. The method according to claim 1, comprising the specific steps of:
Manufacturing a piezoelectric layer:
Cutting piezoelectric materials at intervals larger than the designed length of the piezoelectric array elements, filling insulating materials into the grooves, and curing;
plating an electrode on one surface of the piezoelectric material, and casting or pasting a backing layer on the surface of the plated electrode;
Thinning the piezoelectric material to a designed thickness from the non-plated electrode surface of the piezoelectric material, and plating an electrode on the thinned surface;
manufacturing a conductive matching layer:
cutting the large matching layer material along the length direction of the piezoelectric array element or respectively cutting the large matching layer material along the length direction and the width direction, and filling conductive materials into the cutting grooves;
the two sides of the matching layer are thinned to expose the conducting strips and thinned to the designed thickness to be adhered with the piezoelectric layer, or the one sides of the matching layer are thinned to expose the conducting strips, the surfaces of the exposed conducting strips are adhered with the piezoelectric layer, and the other sides of the matching layer are thinned until the conducting strips are exposed and thinned to the designed thickness;
or the conductive matching layer is made of conductive materials;
or the two sides of the conductive matching layer are plated with conductive layers;
manufacturing a piezoelectric array element:
Dividing the piezoelectric material bonded with the conductive matching layer into single array elements, wherein one end of the array element in the length direction is made of the piezoelectric material, the other end of the array element is made of filled insulating material, and the signal electrode and the grounding electrode are led out from the same surface or different surfaces of the piezoelectric material;
the piezoelectric array element is provided with 1 and more than 1 matching layers, and at least part of the conductive area of the innermost matching layer is overlapped with the insulating strip of the piezoelectric material.
10. An ultrasound transducer, characterized by having a piezoelectric array element according to any one of claims 1-9.
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