Design, fabrication and characterization of a bi-frequency co-linear array (7.5MHz/15MHz)

Ultrasound imaging with high resolution and large field of depth is important in disease diagnosis, surgery guidance and post-surgery assessment. Conventional ultrasound imaging arrays work at a particular frequency, with -6dB fractional bandwidth of <; 100%, limiting the resolution or field of depth in many ultrasound imaging cases. This paper presented design of a 7.5 MHz / 15 MHz bi-frequency co-linear array prototype with a wide bandwidth of 5MHz-20 MHz, which can be significant in a broad range of biomedical ultrasound imaging applications. To demonstrate the concept, a 32-element 1-D linear sub-array was fabricated, followed by element characterization and beamforming tests using a Verasonics system. Beam steering at +/- 40 degree was achieved without obvious side lobes. The initial results suggest great potential of this bi-frequency co-linear array for medical imaging with high resolution and large field of depth.