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Updated: Jun 23, 2026
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Fabrication and Characterization of Thickness Mode Piezoelectric Devices for Atomization and Acoustofluidics
Published on: August 5, 2020
Fabrication and performance of high-frequency composite transducers with triangular-pillar geometry
Jeremy A Brown1, Emmanuel Chérin, Jianhua Yin
1Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Summary
This study introduces a novel piezoelectric composite transducer with triangular pillars, demonstrating improved bandwidth and reduced resonance for enhanced ultrasound imaging. These advancements pave the way for next-generation medical ultrasound devices.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Biomedical Engineering
- Acoustics
Background:
- Piezoelectric composite transducers are crucial for medical ultrasound imaging.
- Optimizing transducer design is essential for improving image quality and diagnostic capabilities.
- Existing transducer designs face limitations in bandwidth and secondary resonance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To fabricate and characterize a novel single-element piezoelectric composite transducer utilizing triangular-shaped composite pillars.
- To evaluate the performance of the triangular-pillar transducer against a conventional square-pillar design.
- To investigate the potential of triangular pillars as a substrate for high-frequency linear array transducers.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of a 40-MHz, 3-mm diameter single-element transducer with a piezo-composite substrate featuring triangular pillars.
- Finite-element modeling to predict transducer performance (2-way bandwidth, impedance).
- Experimental characterization including radiation pattern measurement (beamwidth, depth of field) and comparison with square-pillar transducers.
Main Results:
- The triangular-pillar transducer exhibited a 2-way bandwidth of 50% and performance consistent with finite-element modeling predictions.
- Measured beamwidth at focus was 120 microm, and depth of field was 2.5 mm, closely matching theoretical values.
- Compared to square-pillar transducers, the triangular-pillar design showed a 9.5 dB reduction in secondary resonance amplitude and a 30% increase in 2-way pulse bandwidth.
- Preliminary investigation with a 256-element, 30-MHz linear array demonstrated successful in vivo imaging.
Conclusions:
- The triangular-pillar composite transducer design offers significant advantages in terms of reduced secondary resonance and increased bandwidth.
- This novel design shows promise for enhancing the performance of both single-element and linear array ultrasound transducers.
- The findings support the use of triangular pillars as an effective substrate for advanced high-frequency ultrasound applications, enabling improved in vivo imaging.
