A multirow single crystal phased array for wideband ultrasound imaging

This paper describes the design, fabrication, water tank testing, and imaging results for a phased array fabricated with single crystal relaxor ferroelectrics. The superior physical properties of the crystals relative to PZT ceramic are shown, namely electromechanical coupling >90%. Less than optimal array element uniformity was obtained because of fabrication difficulties associated with the crystal. Nevertheless, superior image quality when operating in harmonics mode is clearly evident for the crystals. Also, the ability of the crystal probe to operate effectively as a linear array at up to 7.3 MHz is described, opening the possibility for a single dual-use probe to cover scanning modes normally associated with multiple probes.