title: Crosstalk reduction for high-frequency linear-array ultrasound transducers using 1-3 piezocomposites with pseudo-random pillars.
abstract: The goal of this research was to develop a novel diced 1-3 piezocomposite geometry to reduce pulse-echo ring down and acoustic crosstalk between high-frequency ultrasonic array elements. Two PZT-5H-based 1-3 composites (10 and 15 MHz) of different pillar geometries [square (SQ), 45° triangle (TR), and pseudo-random (PR)] were fabricated and then made into single-element ultrasound transducers. The measured pulse-echo waveforms and their envelopes indicate that the PR composites had the shortest -20-dB pulse length and highest sensitivity among the composites evaluated. Using these composites, 15-MHz array subapertures with a 0.95λ pitch were fabricated to assess the acoustic crosstalk between array elements. The combined electrical and acoustical crosstalk between the nearest array elements of the PR array subapertures (-31.8 dB at 15 MHz) was 6.5 and 2.2 dB lower than those of the SQ and the TR array subapertures, respectively. These results demonstrate that the 1-3 piezocomposite with the pseudo-random pillars may be a better choice for fabricating enhanced high-frequency linear-array ultrasound transducers; especially when mechanical dicing is used.
authors.affiliation: National Institutes of Health Transducer Resource Center and Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. yangh@usc.edu
authors.forename: Hao-Chung
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cannata
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: K Kirk
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Shung
mesh_terms: D002516:Ceramics; D017097:Electric Impedance; D004867:Equipment Design; D014159:Transducers; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000295:instrumentation*