Measurement of surface acoustic wave velocity using a variable-line-focus polyurea thin-film ultrasonic transducer

This paper presents the novel measurement method of the surface acoustic wave velocity by the variable-line- focus transducer using a polyurea piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer. First, a multiresonant polyurea thin-film ultrasonic transducer is fabricated by the vapor deposition polymerization process using 2 monomers. Second, the measurement system of surface acoustic wave velocity modified from the V(z) curve method is established. The system uses the fabricated polyurea thin film as a variable-line-focus transducer at the 30-MHz resonance frequency. The focal length is changed by varying the radius of curvature of the film transducer. To estimate the surface acoustic wave velocities from the measured data theoretically, the photographs of the transducer bent shapes are taken by using a digital microscope, and the bent transducer curvature is modeled by the 7th-order polynomial. To examine the performances of the variable-line-focus transducer, the surface acoustic wave velocities of an aluminum and a synthesized silica glass specimen have been measured. The measured surface acoustic velocities showed good agreement with the reference values.