Hitachi Medical Corporation

Hitachi, Ltd.

The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.

Fujifilm Healthcare Corporation

Akifumi Sako

Yasuhiro Yoshimura

Tatsuya Nagata

Shuzo Sano

Masahiro Sato

Takeshi Yagi

Hiroki Tanaka

Ryuichi Sugizaki

Makoto Fukada

Takashi Kobayashi

Shuntaro Machida

Mikio Izumi

Kazunari Ishida

Naoaki Yamashita

Tomoko Takenaka

Kunio Hashiba

Taiichi Takezaki

Chizue Ishihara

An ultrasonic probe includes a semiconductor chip in which an ultrasonic transducer is formed and an electrode pad electrically connected to an upper electrode or a lower electrode of the ultrasonic transducer is provided and a flexible substrate in which a bump electrically connected to the electrode pad is provided and the bump is disposed in a portion overlapping with a stepped portion of the semiconductor chip. Further, a height of a connection surface of the electrode pad of the semiconductor chip connected to the bump is lower than a height of a lower surface of the lower electrode.

Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic measurement apparatus using the same

According to one embodiment, an ultrasonic probe includes: an oscillator; a base on which the oscillator is provided; a base conductive wire portion connected to the oscillator; a bump electrode portion supplying a signal to the oscillator via the base conductive wire portion; a pad portion engaging with the bump electrode portion; and an acoustic lens provided such that a force toward the bump electrode portion is applied to the pad portion.

Ultrasonic transmitting and receiving element, and ultrasonic examination device, smartphone, and tablet including the same

Provided is an ultrasonic probe having ultrasonic elements and a printed-circuit board that establishes connection between the ultrasonic elements and external wiring, achieving strong connection between the ultrasonic elements and the printed-circuit board mechanically and electrically, and thereby improving performance in examination and diagnosis using the ultrasonic probe. The printed-circuit board with pads each having a via-hole to be bonded to electrode pads of a chip equipped with the ultrasonic elements, is provided with a reinforcement, in an area of the base material where the pad having the via-hole is not formed. The reinforcement is formed simultaneously with forming the pads and wiring on the printed-circuit board, having the same thickness as the pads. With the reinforcement, pressure is evenly applied to the printed-circuit board when the electrode pad is press-fitted into the pad having the via-hole, thereby preventing warping and deforming of the board.

Ultrasonic probe, and ultrasonic transmitter-receiver system using the same

The present invention addresses the problem of enlarging a sensing area in an ultrasonic probe so as to achieve a higher definition. This ultrasonic diagnostic equipment is provided with an ultrasonic probe that comprises: a CMUT chip () that has drive electrodes ()-(), etc., arranged in a grid-like configuration on a rectangular CMUT element section (); and a CMUT chip () that has drive electrodes ()-(), etc., arranged in a grid-like configuration on the rectangular CMUT element section (), that is adjacent to the CMUT chip (), and in which the drive electrodes ()-() of the adjacent CMUT chip () are electrically connected to the respective drive electrodes ()-() via bonding wires ()-(), etc.

Semiconductor sensor chip, semiconductor sensor chip array, and ultrasound diagnostic apparatus

In order to obtain a high-resolution ultrasound diagnostic image while reducing the back side reflection of a ultrasound irradiated to the side opposite to the ultrasound transmission direction of an ultrasound transmission/reception device, disclosed is an ultrasound probe, wherein a substrate is provided thereon with a cavity, insulation layers having the cavity therebetween, and an upper layer electrode and a lower layer electrode having the cavity and the insulation layers therebetween, so as to form an ultrasound vibration element, the substrate is held by a backing with a low-modulus member therebetween, and a direct voltage and a alternating voltage are applied between the electrodes to vibrate the ultrasound vibration element, and wherein a mechanical impedance by the substrate and the low-modulus member has a substantially equal value as an acoustic impedance of the backing.

Ultrasound probe and ultrasound diagnostic device using same

Both controlling damage when assembling an ultrasonic probe using a chip formed with a capacitive ultrasonic transducer and securing operational reliability are achieved. In a semiconductor substrate on which the capacitive ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) is formed on a first primary surface, a protective film is formed on the surface of the ultrasonic transducer which is formed on the first primary surface of the semiconductor substrate which is then thinned by polishing a second primary surface opposite to the first primary surface of the semiconductor substrate, an ultrasonic transducer chip is cutout of the semiconductor substrate, a sound absorbing material is provided on the surface opposite to the surface formed with the ultrasonic transducer, and the protective film formed on the surface of the ultrasonic transducer is removed.

Production method for ultrasonic probe, ultrasonic probe, and ultrasonic diagnosis device

Provided are: an ultrasound probe with excellent characteristic stability; and ultrasound equipment that uses the ultrasound probe. The ultrasound probe has an ultrasonic transmitting and receiving element provided with a substrate, an insulating film formed on the substrate, a cavity formed between the substrate and the insulating film, and a pair of electrodes disposed parallel to the substrate so as to sandwich the cavity. The ultrasound probe is characterized in that the ultrasonic transmitting and receiving element has a beam part with a multilayer structure formed by laminating films made of materials different in stress, the beam part being disposed on the electrode distant from the substrate out of the pair of electrodes, and the beam part is formed by laminating a film that applies tensile stress and a film that applies compressive stress.

Ultrasound probe and ultrasound equipment using same

Even when electroacoustic conversion elements with high nonlinearity are employed, a nonlinear imaging is carried out with extracting more nonlinear components. An ultrasonic wave beam is transmitted twice from the transmitter to an identical position on the imaging target, and the signal processor performs computation on the reception signals obtained in every transmission performed twice, thereby extracting a nonlinear component included in the reception signals. In one transmission out of the transmission performed twice, the transmitter delivers the transmission signal to all of multiple electroacoustic conversion elements for driving the electroacoustic conversion elements, and in the other transmission, the transmission signal is delivered selectively only to a part of the multiple electroacoustic conversion elements for driving the electroacoustic conversion elements.

Ultrasound imaging apparatus

In order to provide an ultrasonic probe capable of suppressing the influence of multiple reflections occurring on the interface of a transducer with a CMUT chip and a backing layer, an ultrasonic probe of the present invention has a structure where an acoustic lens, transducers-to-, and a backing layerare laminated. Each of the transducers-to-has a CMUT chip, and the backing layeris formed of a material with a value of substantially the same acoustic impedance as the acoustic lens

Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic imaging apparatus using the same

Disclosed is an ultrasonic probe comprising: CMUT cells () that mutually convert ultrasonic waves and electrical signals; a semiconductor substrate () that has a plurality of the CMUT cells () formed on the surface thereof; an acoustic lens () that is provided on the front face side of the CMUT cells (); and a backing layer () that is provided on the rear face side of the semiconductor substrate (). The backing layer () is formed by a first backing layer () that makes contact with the semiconductor substrate, and a second backing layer () that is provided on the rear face side of the backing layer (). The acoustic impedance of the backing layer () is set based on the sheet thickness of the semiconductor substrate (). The backing layer () is formed by attenuating material capable of attenuating ultrasonic waves transmitted through the backing layer (). Multiple reflection of reflection echoes is suppressed by setting the acoustic impedance of the backing layer () to match the acoustic impedance of the backing layer ().

Ultasound probe providing dual backing layer

An ultrasonic probe is disclosed which includes a cMUT chip having a plurality of vibration elements whose electromechanical coupling coefficient or sensitivity is changed according to a bias voltage and transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, an acoustic lens arranged above the cMUT chip, and a backing layer arranged below the cMUT chip. An electric leakage preventing unit is provided at the ultrasonic wave transmission/reception surface side of the acoustic lens or between the acoustic lens and the cMUT chip. The electric leakage preventing unit can be, for example, an insulating layer such as a ground layer. Such a structure makes it is possible to provide an ultrasonic probe capable of preventing electric leakage from the ultrasonic probe to an object to be examined so as to improve the electric safety and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using the probe.

Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using the same

An ultrasonic probe and an ultrasonic diagnosis device which can improve electrical safety for an operator are provided. The ultrasonic probehas an insulating portionbetween a mounting boardand a case. Since electrical leakage from the internal device of the ultrasonic probecan be prevented, electrical safety of the ultrasonic probefor the operator can be improved. A conductive filmis provided on the ultrasonic wave radiation side of a cMUT chip, and a conductive memberis provided along the insulating member. A conductive filmand a conductive memberare connected by a conductive member. A closed space having a ground potential is formed by the conductive film, the conductive memberand a coaxial cableconnected to ground. Main components or the body circuits of the ultrasonic probeare contained in the closed space having the ground potential and shielded electrically from the outside.

Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic diagnosis device

An ultrasonic probe () comprises a cMUT chip (), which has a plurality of vibration elements whose electromechanical coupling coefficient or the sensitivity changes depending on a bias voltage, and transmits/receives an ultrasonic wave; an acoustic lens () provided on the ultrasonic wave radiation side of the cMUT chip (); a backing layer () provided on the back side of the cMUT chip () for absorbing propagation of the ultrasonic wave; an electric wiring portion (flexible substrate ()), which is provided from the peripheral portion of the cMUT chip () to the side face of the backing layer () and has a signal pattern connected with the electrode of the cMUT chip () arranged thereon; and a housing (ultrasonic probe cover ()) for containing the cMUT chip (), the acoustic lens (), the backing layer () and the electric wiring portion (flexible substrate ()). A ground layer (conductive film ()) of ground potential is provided on the ultrasonic wave radiation side of the cMUT chip ().

Ultrasonic probe and method for manufacturing the same and ultrasonic diagnostic device

An ultrasonic probe including a cMUT chip that has plural oscillation elements whose electromechanical coupling coefficient or sensitivity varies in accordance with a bias voltage and transmits/receives an ultrasonic wave, an acoustic lens provided at an ultrasonic wave transmission/reception side of the cMUT chip, a backing layer provided to the opposite surface of the cMUT chip to the acoustic lens, and a substrate provided between the backing layer and the cMUT chip. The ultrasonic probe further includes thermal stress suppressing means for suppressing thermal stress occurring due to the difference in linear expansion coefficient caused by temperature variation between the substrate and the backing layer.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Akifumi Sako