title: Polyurea thin film ultrasonic transducers for nondestructive testing and medical imaging.
abstract: Ultrasonic transducers using polyurea piezoelectric thin film are studied in this paper. Aromatic polyurea thin films, prepared by vapor deposition polymerization, have useful characteristics for use as an ultrasonic transducer. This paper presents the fabrication and experimental evaluation of ultrasonic transducers formed using polyurea films. First, the vapor deposition polymerization process using two monomers is briefly reviewed, and the temperature conditions for higher piezoelectric constants are explored. Second, in order to test the fundamental characteristics of this material as a high-frequency, ultrasonic transducer, a polyurea film of 2.5 microm thickness was deposited on a silicon substrate. In the pulse/echo experiment results, a resonant frequency of about 100 MHz was observed. Third, we fabricated a concave point focus transducer and a cylindrical line focus transducer. To examine the performances of the focus transducers, two-dimensional images of a coin and V(z) curve measurements for an aluminum surface were demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Tokyo Institute of Technology, The Precision and Intelligence Laboratories, Yokahama, Kanagawa, Japan. nakazawa@sonic.pi.titech.ac.jp
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakazawa
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kosugi
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagatsuka
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maezawa
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Sadayuki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ueha
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011108:Polymers; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014159:Transducers; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011108:Polymers; C045786:polyurea