Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation

Tokyo Shibaura Denki Kabushiki Kaisha

Marcon Electronics Co., Ltde.

Osamu Furukawa

Yohachi Yamashita

Hideyuki Kanai

Mitsuo Harata

Yasuharu Hosono

Shiroh Saitoh

Tsuyoshi Kobayashi

Kazuhiro Itsumi

Senji Shimanuki

Mamoru Izumi

Noriko Yamamoto

Kouichi Harada

Shinichi Hashimoto

Takashi Takahashi

Takashi Takeuchi

Masaru Kawachi

Hiroyuki Shikata

Kazuhiko Higuchi

Kumi Okuwada

Yasuhisa Makita

Satoru Tezuka

Hideo Okuma

Shiro Saito

Satoshi Mukaeda

Kiyoji Handa

According to embodiment, a piezoelectric transducer includes a polarized single crystal piezoelectric body comprising a lead complex perovskite compound containing niobium oxide and at least one of magnesium oxide and indium oxide and including a first plane whose crystal orientation is [100] and a second plane which faces the first plane and whose crystal orientation is [100], and first electrode provided on the first plane side of the body and a second electrode provided on the second plane side of the body. A ratio of a second FWHM of diffracted X-rays at the Miller index (400) of the body to a first FWHM of diffracted X-rays at the miller index (400) of the body which is unpolarized or has undergone depolarization processing is not less than 0.22 and not more than 0.4.

Piezoelectric transducer, ultrasonic probe, and piezoelectric transducer manufacturing method

According to one embodiment, an ultrasonic probe includes a single crystal piezoelectric body with first and second planes facing each other and having a crystal orientation of [100], first and second electrodes on the respective first and second plane of the piezoelectric body, an acoustic matching layer on the first electrode, and a backing member under the second electrode, wherein the piezoelectric body is polarized along a first direction passing through the piezoelectric body and first and second electrodes, a fracture surface of the piezoelectric body that includes the first direction has a multilayer shape along one of the first and second electrodes, and a thickness of each layer of the multilayer shape is not less than 0.5 &#x3bc;m and not more than 5 &#x3bc;m.

Ultrasonic probe, piezoelectric transducer, method of manufacturing ultrasonic probe, and method of manufacturing piezoelectric transducer

Provided is an acoustic lens composition which comprises 40 wt % or more of silicone rubber and 15 to 60 wt % of a zinc oxide powder, suppresses ultrasonic attenuation, and has superior molding properties.

Acoustic lens composition, ultrasonic probe, and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

A two-dimensional array ultrasonic probe is provided with a two-dimensional ultrasonic array and a surface protection layer provided on the array. The two-dimensional ultrasonic array arranges a plurality of piezoelectric vibration elements two-dimensionally. The surface protection layer is made essentially of polybutadiene series rubber. The polybutadiene series rubber is synthesized from 100 parts by weight of polybutadiene and 1 to 5 parts by weight of glycerin.

Two-dimensional array ultrasonic probe

Disclosed is an acoustic backing composition comprising an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer containing 20 to 80% by weight of the vinyl acetate units and a filler contained in the ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer.

Acoustic backing composition, ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe including a piezoelectric element, a first acoustic matching layer provided on the front face of the piezoelectric element and formed of a solid inorganic material, and a second acoustic matching layer provided on the first acoustic matching layer and formed of a mixture of an organic resin and 10 to 30% by volume of oxide powder with a density of 6.5 g/cmor more.

Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

An ultrasonic probe is characterized in that a piezoelectric memberformed of solution-based single-crystal containing at least plumbum titanate is sandwiched between resin layersandhaving smaller acoustic impedance than the piezoelectric member and having conductivity, so processing errors are prevented from occurring during cutting and the resin layers can be used as acoustic layers or electrodes.

Ultrasonic probe and method of manufacturing the same

A two-dimensional array ultrasonic probe comprises printed circuit boards, each carrying piezoelectric vibrators arranged in the form of a matrix and adapted to draw signal leads and grounding wires from the vibrators through the gaps separating the columns of the matrix. A row of vibrators are arranged in an array on each of the printed circuit boards and then the printed circuit boards carrying vibrators are arranged in the column to produce a two-dimensional array transducer.

Ultrasonic probe, method of manufacturing the same and ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus

A method of manufacturing an ultrasonic probe includes the steps of forming electrodes on two surfaces of a piezoelectric single crystal made of a complex perovskite compound and then adhering the piezoelectric single crystal on a backing material, dicing the piezoelectric single crystal to form an arrayed piezoelectric single-crystal transducer, and poling the arrayed piezoelectric single-crystal transducer in the electric field of 0.5 to 2 kV/mm at a temperature of 80&deg; C. or less.

Method of manufacturing ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

An ultrasonic probe has strip-formed oscillators formed of a piezoelectric crystal material arranged in an array form. Metal layers are formed by a first layer of at least one of Ti, Ni and Cr, a second layer of at least one of Cu and Ni, and a third layer of at least one of Cu, Au, Pt, Ag and Pd. A backing material is fixed to the oscillators through the metal layers. With this structure, it is possible to manufacture an ultrasonic probe having a high sensitivity while maintaining a favorable dicing process, even while using a backing material having a low acoustic impedance and soft properties.

An ultrasonic probe provided with an ultrasonic wave-transmitting/receiving element comprising a 1-3 type or 2-2 type composite piezoelectric body exposing a piezoelectric monocrystal from at least one of the faces of the composite piezoelectric body, and an electrode mounted on at least one of the faces of the composite piezoelectric body, wherein the composite piezoelectric body comprises a piezoelectric monocrystal whose electromechanical coupling coefficient ratio k.sub.33 /k.sub.t is 1.6 or more, and a resin whose acoustic impedance Zp is 4.times.10.sup.6 kg/m.sup.2 s or less.

Ultrasonic probe

A piezoelectric material with a high fracture toughness and a large electromechanical coupling coefficient is disclosed. This piezoelectric material contains a composition which is represented by xPb(Sc.sub.1/2 Nb.sub.1/2)O.sub.3 -yPbTiO.sub.3 -zPbZrO.sub.3 -wPb(Me.sub.1/3 Nb.sub.2/3)O.sub.3, where Me is at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Mg, Zn and Ni, and x+y+z+w=1.00, x, y, z, and w being values falling within region which is defined by connecting points a, b, c, and d and which excludes a line ab, the points a, b, c, and d existing on the faces of a regular trigonal pyramid having apices P.sub.1, P.sub.2, P.sub.3, and P.sub.4 which correspond to Pb(Sc.sub.1/2 Nb.sub.1/2)O.sub.3, PbTiO.sub.3, PbZrO.sub.3 and Pb(Me.sub.1/3 Nb.sub.2/3)O.sub.3, respectively, and the points a, b, c, and d having the following coordinate values when the apices P.sub.1, P.sub.2, P.sub.3, and P.sub.4 have coordinate values of (X.sub.1, Y.sub.1, Z.sub.1, W.sub.1 =1, 0, 0, 0), (X.sub.2, Y.sub.2, Z.sub.2, W.sub.2 =0, 1, 0, 0, 0), (X.sub.3, Y.sub.3, Z.sub.3, W.sub.3 =0, 0, 1, 0), and (X.sub.4, Y.sub.4, Z.sub.4, W.sub.4 =0, 0, 0, 1):

Piezoelectric material and ultrasonic probe

Disclosed is a piezoelectric single crystal which has a large electromechanical coupling coefficient and hardly brings about depolarization due to the effect of heat in, e.g., the steps of manufacturing an ultrasonic transmitting/receiving element. The piezoelectric single crystal consists essentially of a general formula:

Piezoelectric single crystal, ultrasonic probe, and array-type

An ultrasonic probe includes an ultrasonic transmitting/receiving element which uses a piezoelectric member constituted by a solid-solution based single crystal of zinc lead niobate-lead titanate, so that low-frequency driving can be achieved, the thickness of the piezoelectric member in the direction of vibration can be decreased, matching with a transmitting/receiving circuit can be easily made, and the sensitivity can be improved. The ultrasonic probe includes an ultrasonic transmitting/receiving element having a piezoelectric member constituted by a solid-solution based single crystal of zinc lead niobate-lead titanate and a pair of electrodes formed on an ultrasonic transmitting/receiving surface of the piezoelectric member and a surface opposite to the transmitting/receiving surface, respectively.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Yohachi Yamashita