Evaluation of small ultrasonic probe using lead zirconate titanate poly-crystal film deposited by hydrothermal method

The present study evaluates the characteristics of a small ultrasound probe using PZT polycrystalline film deposited by a hydrothermal synthesis method. With the hydrothermal synthesis method, PZT film is deposited only on the titanium by reaction in the solution. Utilizing this feature, a PTZ polycrystalline film was deposited on the end face by a hydrothermal synthesis of a material with only its titanium wire end face exposed. This transducer was built into a small ultrasound probe and the characteristics were evaluated. As a result, we succeeded in the fabrication of a wideband ultrasound probe with a distance resolution of 32 mum, a frequency bandwidth of 50 MHz in the range of 25 to 74 MHz, and a fractional bandwidth of 99 %.