KR101909837B1 - Ultrasonic focusing apparatus and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

An ultrasonic focusing apparatus and a method of manufacturing the same are disclosed. According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic focusing apparatus comprising: a flexible substrate; a transducer disposed on the flexible substrate for outputting an ultrasonic wave based on a driving signal; and a controller for controlling at least one of amplitude and phase of the driving signal, And a controller for outputting to a transducer.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic focusing apparatus,

The following embodiments relate to an ultrasonic focusing apparatus and a method of manufacturing the same.

As a conventional technique, there is a method of arranging transducers in an array form to focus ultrasound waves. However, the technology of arranging the transducers in an array form as a conventional technique has a limitation in that the shape and size of the array form can not be changed once it is manufactured, and the position of the ultrasonic focusing area is also fixed to one place.

For example, when the device is used as a brain stimulation device, ultrasonic waves can be focused on a desired region to give ultrasonic stimulation. However, there is a limitation in controlling the position of the ultrasonic focusing region with conventional techniques.

In order to solve this problem, there is a method of performing beamforming by applying voltages having different amplitudes and phases to the respective transducer elements constituting the array. However, such a beamforming algorithm is very complicated to realize and has a disadvantage that it is not easy to control.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic focusing apparatus comprising: a stretchable substrate; a transducer disposed on the flexible substrate for outputting an ultrasonic wave based on a driving signal; And a controller for controlling at least one of the plurality of control signals to output the control signal to the transducer.

The transducer may be implemented as a capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT) device.

The transducer may be implemented as a PMUT (Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasound Transducer) device.

The transducer may be implemented in the form of an array.

The array form can be implemented in one dimension (1D).

The array form may be implemented in two dimensions (2D).

The array shape may be implemented as a circular or ring-annular shape.

The controller may amplify the voltage of the driving signal to output the ultrasonic wave to a transducer at a desired position and output the amplified voltage.

The controller may output the ultrasonic wave by delaying the driving signal to a transducer opposite to a desired position.

The controller can control the shape of the flexible substrate to output the ultrasonic wave to a desired position.

A method of manufacturing an ultrasonic focusing apparatus according to an embodiment includes performing wire bonding on a printed circuit board (PCB) of a transducer, arranging a wire-bonded printed circuit board on a flexible substrate in the form of a ring- And performing a wiring operation along the wire-bonded printed circuit board.

The printed circuit board may be implemented as a rigid PCB.

The transducer may be implemented as a CMUT device or a PMUT device.

The transducer may be implemented as an arc-shaped element.

The step of performing the wiring work along the wire-bonded printed circuit board may include the step of performing the wiring work in the form of the hairs along the arc shape.

1 is a block diagram of an ultrasound focusing system according to an embodiment.
Fig. 2 is a view for explaining the configuration of the ultrasonic focusing apparatus shown in Fig. 1. Fig.
3 is a view for explaining an example in which the transducer is implemented as an annular ring.
4A is a view for explaining another example in which the transducer is implemented as a ring-shaped annulus.
4B is a view for explaining another example in which the transducer is implemented as a ring-shaped annulus.
5A is a diagram showing a simulation result of an operation of an annular ring-shaped ultrasonic focusing apparatus.
Fig. 5B is a view showing the actual results of the operation of the annular ring-shaped ultrasonic focusing apparatus. Fig.
6A is a view for explaining the performance of an annular ring-shaped ultrasonic focusing apparatus.
6B is a view for explaining the performance of the annular ring type ultrasonic focusing apparatus.
7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of manufacturing an ultrasonic focusing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

It is to be understood that the specific structural or functional descriptions of embodiments of the present invention disclosed herein are presented for the purpose of describing embodiments only in accordance with the concepts of the present invention, May be embodied in various forms and are not limited to the embodiments described herein.

Embodiments in accordance with the concepts of the present invention are capable of various modifications and may take various forms, so that the embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail herein. However, it is not intended to limit the embodiments according to the concepts of the present invention to the specific disclosure forms, but includes changes, equivalents, or alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The terms first, second, or the like may be used to describe various elements, but the elements should not be limited by the terms. The terms may be named for the purpose of distinguishing one element from another, for example without departing from the scope of the right according to the concept of the present invention, the first element being referred to as the second element, Similarly, the second component may also be referred to as the first component.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, . On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between. Expressions that describe the relationship between components, for example, "between" and "immediately" or "directly adjacent to" should be interpreted as well.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, the terms " comprises ", or " having ", and the like, are used to specify one or more of the features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, But do not preclude the presence or addition of steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning of the context in the relevant art and, unless explicitly defined herein, are to be interpreted as ideal or overly formal Do not.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the scope of the patent application is not limited or limited by these embodiments. Like reference symbols in the drawings denote like elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ultrasound focusing system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a view for explaining a configuration of the ultrasound focusing apparatus shown in FIG.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an ultrasonic focusing system 10 may include an ultrasonic focusing apparatus 100 and a user 200.

The ultrasound focusing system 10 may be used in the fields of ultrasound imaging, ultrasound stimulation, and the like. For example, the user 200 may be a patient suffering from a brain disorder. In this case, the ultrasound focusing system 10 can be applied to various brain diseases through brain stimulation or experiments for brain circuit identification research. In addition, the ultrasound focusing system 10 can be applied to a wide range of fields related to the brain as a device that can be applied to treatment of brain diseases capable of physical treatment. However, the ultrasound focusing system 10 is not limited to the field related to the brain, and can be used in all fields where ultrasound waves such as abdomen, arm, and leg can be applied.

The ultrasound focusing apparatus 100 may focus the ultrasound waves on the user 200. At this time, the ultrasonic focusing apparatus 100 can focus and output ultrasonic waves at desired positions. The ultrasound focusing device 100 may be conformally attached to any body part of the user 200.

The ultrasound focusing apparatus 100 includes a controller 110 and a transducer 120.

The transducer 120 may be implemented as an element using MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) technology. For example, the transducer 120 may be implemented as an element such as a capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT) or a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (PMUT). The CMUT or PMUT may comprise a membrane comprising a cavity at the bottom. The membrane can vibrate based on the drive signal to output ultrasound. Therefore, the ultrasonic focusing apparatus 100 can be downsized lightly and can be manufactured in various forms. In addition, the ultrasonic focusing apparatus 100 has a wide bandwidth and can output ultrasonic waves to the user 200 at various frequencies.

The transducer 120 may be implemented in the form of an array. The array shape may mean a one-dimensional (1D) or two-dimensional (2D) shape.

When the transducer 120 is implemented in a one-dimensional form, a plurality of transducers 120 may be disposed on a linear array to form a transducer array that outputs ultrasonic waves.

When the transducer 120 is implemented in a two-dimensional form, a plurality of transducers 120 are disposed on a circular array or a ring-annular array, and a transducer An array can be formed. The annular array will be described later with reference to Figs. 3 to 6B.

The transducer 120 may be disposed on a substrate 130. The substrate 130 may be a stretchable substrate. For example, the substrate 130 may include a backing layer such that the transducer 120 is free to bend or change shape. At this time, the backing layer may be implemented from benzocyclobutene (BCB) or a monolithic silicon wafer.

The user 200 can freely apply force to the substrate 130 to control the position of the ultrasonic wave output from the transducer 120. [ For example, the user 200 can freely apply force to the substrate 130 in the x-axis direction, the y-axis direction, or the z-axis direction.

The controller 110 may control at least one of the amplitude and the phase of the driving signal to output the signal to the transducer 120. The transducer 120 can output an ultrasonic wave based on a driving signal output from the controller 110. [

For example, the controller 110 may amplify the voltage of the drive signal to the transducer 120 at a desired position of the ultrasonic wave output from the array-type transducer 120, and output the amplified voltage.

In addition, the controller 110 may delay the driving signal from the array-type transducer 120 to the transducer 120 opposite to the desired position of the ultrasonic wave output. It can be understood that the configuration in which the controller 110 delays the driving signal controls the phase of the driving signal.

The controller 110 may control the shape of the substrate 130. [ For example, the controller 110 can output ultrasound at a desired position by controlling the shape of the substrate 130 using an xyz stage (not shown) or a motor (not shown) .

3 is a view for explaining an example in which the transducer is implemented as an annular ring.

Referring to FIG. 3, it can be seen that the transducer is implemented as an annular ring. Hereinafter, the construction and operation of the ultrasonic focusing apparatus in which the transducer is implemented in the annular ring shape will be described together with the manufacturing method.

The transducers 321, 322, 323, and 324 may be wire bonded 340 to printed circuit boards (PCB) 331, 332, 333, and 334. For example, a thermocompression bonding method or an ultrasonic bonding method can be used.

At this time, the transducers 321, 322, 323, and 324 may be implemented as a CMUT device or a PMUT device using MEMS technology. Also, transducers 321, 322, 323, and 324 may be in the form of an arc to be embodied as an annular ring. The PCBs 331, 332, 333, and 334 may be implemented as rigid PCBs.

The wire-bonded PCBs 331, 332, 333, and 334 may be arranged on the substrate 330 in the form of an annular ring-shaped array. The substrate 330 may be a flexible substrate. For example, the substrate 330 may include a backing layer such that the transducers 321, 322, 323, and 324 are free to bend or change shape.

The wiring operation can be performed along the wire-bonded PCBs 331, 332, 333, and 334. For example, a wiring operation for applying driving signals to the transducers 321, 322, 323, and 324 can be performed. The wiring work may include signal (sig) wiring and ground (gnd) wiring. At this time, the wiring work can be performed in the form of a horse shoe along the arc type transducers 321, 322, 323, and 324.

The transducers 321, 322, 323, and 324 can output ultrasonic waves based on the drive signals.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams for explaining another example in which the transducer is implemented as an annular ring type. FIG. 5A is a diagram showing a simulation result of the operation of the annular ring type ultrasonic focusing apparatus, and FIG. 6A and 6B are views for explaining the performance of the annular ring-shaped ultrasonic focusing apparatus.

Referring to FIGS. 4A and 6B, the configuration, operation, and performance of the ultrasonic focusing apparatus 400 implemented as an annular array can be confirmed.

A plurality of transducers 420 may be wire-bonded to the PCB 430 to produce one element. For example, a plurality of transducers 420 may be implemented in 12 of 4 * 3. That is, the plurality of transducers 420 may be arranged in four rows and three columns.

A configuration in which a plurality of elements generated in the same manner are arranged in a ring-shaped array may be as shown in FIG. 4B. The signal wiring 440 and the ground wiring 450 can be arranged around the annular array.

The simulation result of the operation of the ultrasonic focusing apparatus 400 including the plurality of wire-bonded PCBs 430 is as shown in FIG. 5A, and the actual result may be as shown in FIG. 5B. That is, when all of the transducers output ultrasonic waves based on the same driving signal, it can be confirmed that ultrasonic waves are output perpendicularly to the annular ring shape. Also, it can be confirmed that the simulation result is similar to the actual result.

At this time, a controller (not shown) connected to the PCB 430 can control the position where the ultrasonic waves are converged by controlling the amplitude or phase of the driving signal input to the transducer 420.

For example, the controller can control the ultrasonic wave to be biased toward the PCB 430 by amplifying the voltage of the driving signal input to the transducer 420 of the PCB 430.

In addition, the controller can control the ultrasound waves to be biased toward the opposite side of the PCB 430 by delaying and outputting a driving signal input to the transducer 420 of the PCB 430. It can be understood that the arrangement in which the controller delays the driving signal controls the phase of the driving signal.

The controller may control the shape of the substrate on which the PCB 430 is disposed to control the position at which the ultrasonic waves are focused. At this time, the controller can control the shape of the substrate using an xyz stage or a motor. For example, when the controller applies the same force to the substrate in the up, down, left and right (xy plane), the diameter of the array of the ultrasonic focusing apparatus 400 equally increases in the xy plane, Can be controlled. At this time, when the controller selectively applies force to the upper, lower, left, and right (xy plane) without applying the same force, the position of the ultrasonic focusing region can be controlled also in the x axis direction and the y axis direction.

Referring to FIG. 6A, it can be seen that the focal length becomes longer as the ring radius of the annular array of the ultrasonic focusing apparatus 400 becomes larger. That is, as the diameter of the array of the ultrasonic focusing apparatus 400 becomes larger, the position of the ultrasonic focusing area may be distant.

Referring to FIG. 6B, it can be seen that the maximum intensity decreases as the ring radius of the annular array of the ultrasonic focusing apparatus 400 increases. That is, as the diameter of the array of the ultrasonic focusing apparatus 400 increases, the maximum intensity of the ultrasonic focusing region can be reduced.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of manufacturing an ultrasonic focusing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 7, a manufacturing method of an ultrasonic focusing apparatus of an annular-ring array can be confirmed.

The transducer may perform wire bonding to the PCB (710). For example, a thermocompression bonding method or an ultrasonic bonding method can be used.

At this time, the transducer may be implemented as a CMUT device or a PMUT device using MEMS technology. Also, the transducer may be in the form of an arc in order to be implemented as an annular ring. PCBs can be implemented as rigid PCBs.

The wire-bonded PCBs can be placed on the substrate in an annular array (720). The substrate may be a stretchable substrate. For example, the substrate may include a backing layer such that the transducer is free to bend or change shape.

Wiring can be performed along the wire-bonded PCB. For example, a wiring operation for applying a driving signal to the transducer can be performed. The wiring work may include signal sig wiring and ground wiring (gnd). At this time, the wiring work can be carried out in a horseshoe shape along an arc-shaped transducer.

The apparatus described above may be implemented as a hardware component, a software component, and / or a combination of hardware components and software components. For example, the apparatus and components described in the embodiments may be implemented within a computer system, such as, for example, a processor, a controller, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) , A programmable logic unit (PLU), a microprocessor, or any other device capable of executing and responding to instructions. The processing device may execute an operating system (OS) and one or more software applications running on the operating system. The processing device may also access, store, manipulate, process, and generate data in response to execution of the software. For ease of understanding, the processing apparatus may be described as being used singly, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the processing apparatus may have a plurality of processing elements and / As shown in FIG. For example, the processing unit may comprise a plurality of processors or one processor and one controller. Other processing configurations are also possible, such as a parallel processor.

The software may include a computer program, code, instructions, or a combination of one or more of the foregoing, and may be configured to configure the processing device to operate as desired or to process it collectively or collectively Device can be commanded. The software and / or data may be in the form of any type of machine, component, physical device, virtual equipment, computer storage media, or device , Or may be permanently or temporarily embodied in a transmitted signal wave. The software may be distributed over a networked computer system and stored or executed in a distributed manner. The software and data may be stored on one or more computer readable recording media.

The method according to an embodiment may be implemented in the form of a program command that can be executed through various computer means and recorded in a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, and the like, alone or in combination. The program instructions to be recorded on the medium may be those specially designed and configured for the embodiments or may be available to those skilled in the art of computer software. Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs; magnetic media such as floppy disks; Magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include machine language code such as those produced by a compiler, as well as high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware devices described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of the embodiments, and vice versa.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. For example, it is to be understood that the techniques described may be performed in a different order than the described methods, and / or that components of the described systems, structures, devices, circuits, Lt; / RTI > or equivalents, even if it is replaced or replaced.

Therefore, other implementations, other embodiments, and equivalents to the claims are also within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (15)

A stretchable substrate;
A transducer disposed on the flexible substrate and outputting an ultrasonic wave based on the driving signal; And
A controller for controlling at least one of an amplitude and a phase of the driving signal to output to the transducer,
Lt; / RTI >
Wherein the transducer is bent or changed in shape by the shape of the substrate controlled by the controller to change the position and intensity of the ultrasonic focusing region.
The method according to claim 1,
The transducer includes:
Ultrasonic focusing device implemented as a capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT) device.
The method according to claim 1,
The transducer includes:
An ultrasonic focusing device implemented as a PMUT (Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasound Transducer) element.
The method according to claim 1,
The transducer includes:
An ultrasound focusing device implemented in an array form.
5. The method of claim 4,
In the array form,
Wherein the ultrasonic focusing unit is implemented as one-dimensional (1D).
5. The method of claim 4,
In the array form,
An ultrasonic focusing apparatus implemented in two dimensions (2D).
The method according to claim 6,
In the array form,
An ultrasonic focusing device implemented in a circular or ring-annular manner.
The method according to claim 1,
The controller comprising:
And the ultrasonic wave is amplified by the transducer at a desired position to output the ultrasonic wave.
The method according to claim 1,
The controller comprising:
And outputs the ultrasonic wave by delaying the driving signal to a transducer opposite to the desired position.
delete A method for manufacturing an annular ring-shaped ultrasonic focusing apparatus,
Performing wire bonding of the transducer to a printed circuit board (PCB);
Disposing a wire-bonded printed circuit board on a flexible substrate in the form of an annular ring-shaped array; And
Performing a wiring operation along the wire-bonded printed circuit board
Lt; / RTI >
Wherein the transducer is bent or deformed freely according to the shape of the substrate to change the position and intensity of the ultrasonic focusing region.
12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein the printed circuit board includes:
A method of manufacturing an ultrasonic focusing apparatus implemented with rigid PCBs.
12. The method of claim 11,
The transducer includes:
A method of manufacturing an ultrasound focusing apparatus, the method being implemented with a CMUT element or a PMUT element.
12. The method of claim 11,
The transducer includes:
A method of manufacturing an ultrasonic focusing apparatus implemented as an arc shaped device.
15. The method of claim 14,
The step of performing a wiring operation along the wire-
Performing the wiring work in the form of a horse shoe along the arc shape
Wherein the ultrasonic focusing device comprises:

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