General Electric Company

Serge Gerard Calisti

Charles Edward Baumgartner

Frederic Lanteri

Jean-Francois Gelly

Lowell Scott Smith

David Martin Mills

Alan Tai

A method for forming an acoustical stack for an ultrasound probe comprises partly dicing a single crystal piezoelectric material to form single crystal pieces that are partly separated by a plurality of kerfs. The single crystal piezoelectric material comprises a carrier layer. The kerfs are filled with a kerf filling material to form a single crystal composite and the carrier layer is removed. At least one matching layer is attached to the single crystal composite, and dicing within the kerfs is accomplished to form separate acoustical stacks from the single crystal composite.

Method for forming an acoustical stack for an ultrasound probe

An acoustical stack for an ultrasound probe comprises a piezoelectric layer having top and bottom sides and a plurality of matching layer sections forming a matching layer structure. Each of the matching layer sections comprises a spring layer comprising a first material and a mass layer comprising a second material that is different than the first material. The spring layer within the matching layer section that is positioned closest to the piezoelectric layer is thinner than the spring layer within the other matching layer sections.

Method for forming a matching layer structure of an acoustic stack

A method for manufacturing an acoustical stack for use within an ultrasound transducer comprises using a user defined center operating frequency of an ultrasound transducer that is at least about 2.9 MHz. A piezoelectric material and a dematching material are joined with an assembly material to form an acoustical connection therebetween. The piezoelectric material has a first acoustical impedance and *at least one of* an associated piezoelectric rugosity (Ra) and piezoelectric waviness (Wa). The dematching material has a second acoustical impedance that is different than the first acoustical impedance and at least one of an associated dematching Ra and dematching Wa. The piezoelectric and dematching materials have an impedance ratio of at least 2. The assembly material has a thickness that is based on the center operating frequency and at least one of the piezoelectric Ra, piezoelectric Wa, dematching Ra and dematching Wa.

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Bouches du Rhone, France

Serge Gerard Calisti