The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 30, 1996
Filed:
May. 22, 1995
P Michael Finsterwald, Scottsdale, AZ (US);
Parallel Design, Inc., Tempe, AZ (US);
Abstract
An ultrasonic transducer array having a plurality of transducer elements aligned along an array axis in an imaging plane. Each transducer element includes a piezoelectric substrate and further includes a rear electrode applied to the substrate's rear surface and a patterned front electrode applied to the substrate's front surface. A conductive or metalized acoustic matching layer overlays the patterned front electrode. The front electrode is specially patterned along an elevation axis perpendicular to the imaging plane, so as to apodize the emitted ultrasonic beam in the elevation plane. The pattern follows a predetermined tapered weighting function, preferably one that approximates a Hamming weighting function. Slots, oriented parallel with the array axis, are cut into the piezoelectric substrate's front surface, to form a plurality of subelements. This further isolates these portions of the piezoelectric substrate not overlaid by the patterned front electrode, thereby enhancing beam apodization.