Patent · US Expired

Multi-layer composite ultrasonic transducer arrays

US5548564A · kind A · utility

94Cited by
30References
25Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateApr 13, 1994
Grant dateAug 20, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 13, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH10N30/874
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A piezoelectric transducer chip comprising a plurality of transducer elements. At least one of the transducer elements is a multi-layer element which comprises a plurality of piezoelectric layers, each of which is separated from the adjacent piezoelectric layers by an electrode layer so that a plurality of capacitive elements is electrically connected in parallel. The plurality of piezoelectric layers are comprised of a plurality of piezoelectric members separated from adjacent members by a gap to form a composite piezoelectric layer. Also disclosed is a method of making a multilayer transducer of a composite piezoelectric material. Alternate embodiments include two-dimensional ultrasonic transducer arrays having multilayer elements formed of a composite piezoelectric material.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.