CN216094664U - Novel medical detection probe - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model discloses a novel medical detection probe, which comprises a shell, a first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer, a second piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer and a cable, wherein the first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer and the second piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer are connected inside the shell and positioned at one end of the shell close to human tissues, the cable is respectively and electrically connected with the first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer and the second piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer and extends out from one end of the shell far away from the human tissues, the piezoelectric material of the piezoelectric layer of the first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer is PZT (piezoelectric transducer) and is used for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals, and the piezoelectric material of the piezoelectric layer of the second piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer is AlN and is used for receiving echo signals. The medical detection probe has good sensitivity to ultrasonic signals, and effectively improves the imaging quality of human tissues.

Description

Novel medical detection probe

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the field of ultrasonic diagnosis and treatment of human body imaging, in particular to a novel medical detection probe.

Background

Medical imaging systems are based on a non-invasive imaging technique for imaging and displaying images of internal organs of the human body, including ultrasound imaging, nuclear medicine imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray projection imaging, and the like. In an ultrasonic imaging system, an ultrasonic transducer is an important component of the ultrasonic imaging system, and converts an electric signal into an acoustic signal, the acoustic signal enters the inside of a human body, meets echoes generated by different acoustic impedance layers, and is converted into the electric signal after being received to form a tomographic image of human tissue, so that the change of the tissue can be judged.

Among the Ultrasonic transducers, a Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (PMUT) is a MEMS device that vibrates a Piezoelectric film by a positive and negative Piezoelectric effect of a Piezoelectric material, thereby transmitting or receiving an Ultrasonic signal, and has a simple structure and a very high design flexibility, and is widely used in the field of medical imaging. At present, in the application of PMUT, because it can be used as an actuator (for transmitting sound waves) and a sensor (for receiving sound waves), the cost can be greatly reduced, most of the PMUT devices use devices with completely the same specification parameters as the actuator and the sensor, that is, performance indexes such as the transmission sound pressure, the receiving sensitivity and the like of the PMUT device are difficult to have better performance, thereby further influencing the quality of the obtained tissue images.

However, as the market grows, high quality tissue images are becoming a trend for clinical needs for ultrasound imaging. When the PMUT is used as an actuator, it is required to have a good transmitting sound pressure to increase the echo intensity so as to make the signal easier to process, and when it is used as a sensor, it is required to have a good receiving sensitivity so as to form a clearer ultrasonic image according to the acoustic impedance with the difference. Therefore, it is urgently needed to develop a novel medical detection probe to meet the market demand.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

Therefore, the utility model provides a novel medical detection probe, wherein a transducer array of the medical detection probe comprises a first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer and a second piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer, and a piezoelectric layer of the first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer is PZT and is used for transmitting ultrasonic waves; the piezoelectric layer of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer is AlN for detecting the reflected wave. The PZT and AlN piezoelectric materials have better ultrasonic transmitting power and ultrasonic receiving power respectively, thereby enhancing the sensitivity of the medical detection probe to ultrasonic signals and effectively improving the imaging quality of human tissues.

In order to achieve the purpose, the utility model mainly adopts the following technical scheme:

a novel medical detection probe comprises a shell, a first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer, a second piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer and a cable, wherein the first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer and the second piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer are connected inside the shell and located at one end, close to human tissue, of the shell; the piezoelectric material of the piezoelectric layer of the second piezoelectric micromechanical ultrasonic transducer is aluminum nitride (AlN) and is used for receiving echo signals.

Preferably, the number of said first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers is greater than 1.

Preferably, the number of said second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers is greater than 1.

Preferably, the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer and the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer form a transducer array, and the shape of the array surface of the transducer array is a plane or a curved surface.

Preferably, the transducer array is a rectangular array comprising at least four columns, each column consisting of at least 1 of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays or at least 1 of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays.

Preferably, the composition of each two adjacent columns in the rectangular array is: one column is comprised of at least 1 of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements and another column is comprised of at least 1 of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements.

Preferably, at least two adjacent columns are taken as a group, each column of the group is composed of at least 1 of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements or each column is composed of at least 1 of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements, and each adjacent two groups of the rectangular array are composed of: one set of each column is comprised of at least 1 of said first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements, and another set of each column is comprised of at least 1 of said second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements.

Preferably, the transducer array is a circular array, consisting of at least two concentric ring-shaped structures, each ring-shaped structure consisting of at least 2 of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays or at least 2 of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays.

Preferably, the composition of each two adjacent ring structures in the circular array is: one ring structure is comprised of at least 2 of said first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements and the other ring structure is comprised of at least 2 of said second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements.

Preferably, the medical detection probe further comprises a wearing accessory, and the wearing accessory is any one of a belt, a buckle and a magic tape.

Compared with the prior art, the utility model has the beneficial effects that: 1) the medical detection probe comprises a first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer and a second piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer, wherein the first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer with a piezoelectric layer of PZT has better transmitting power, and the medical detection probe transmits ultrasonic waves by using the first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer; the second piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer with the AlN piezoelectric layer has better ultrasonic receiving power, the medical detection probe receives ultrasonic echoes by using the second piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer and simultaneously starts the first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer to receive the ultrasonic echoes, and the arrangement enhances the sensitivity of the medical detection probe so as to improve the imaging quality of human tissues; 2) the medical detection probe comprises a transducer array, and the surface of the transducer array can be a plane or a curved surface, so that the universality of the medical detection probe is improved; 3) in the transducer array, the first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducers and the second piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducers can be arranged into different shapes such as a rectangular array or a circular array, and the intensity of ultrasonic signals is enhanced so that the ultrasonic signals can be easily captured.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a medical detection probe according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a transducer array in a medical detection probe according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is another schematic plan view of a transducer array in a medical sensing probe in accordance with an embodiment of the utility model;

fig. 4 is a schematic plan view of a transducer array in a medical detection probe according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The following describes in more detail embodiments of the present invention with reference to the schematic drawings. The advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description. It is to be noted that the drawings are in a very simplified form and are not to precise scale, which is merely for the purpose of facilitating and distinctly claiming the embodiments of the present invention.

The utility model provides a novel medical detection probe, as shown in fig. 1, the medical detection probe comprises a shell 1, a first piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer 201, a second piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer 202 and a cable 3, wherein one end of the interior of the shell 1, which is close to human tissues, is connected with the first piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer 201 for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves and the second piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer 202 for receiving ultrasonic waves (reflected waves of the detected ultrasonic waves), the two piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducers are respectively and electrically connected with the cable 3 in the shell 1, and the cable 3 extends out of one end of the interior of the shell 1, which is far away from the human tissues, and is electrically connected with external corollary equipment. The two piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers are used for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals to human tissues, and in application, a transducer array formed by a plurality of first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers 201 and a plurality of second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers 202 can be connected to the inside of the housing 1. The piezoelectric layers of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 201 and the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 202 are made of different piezoelectric materials, the piezoelectric material of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 201 is made of lead zirconate titanate piezoelectric ceramics PZT with high transmission power, which is used for transmitting ultrasonic signals and receiving ultrasonic signals, and the piezoelectric material of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 202 is made of aluminum nitride AlN with high receiving power and used for receiving echo signals. In the embodiment, the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 201 with high transmitting power is used for transmitting ultrasonic waves, and on the basis of receiving ultrasonic wave echoes by the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 202 with high receiving power, the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 201 is started to enable the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 201 and the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 202 to jointly receive ultrasonic wave echo signals, so that the sensitivity of the medical detection probe to ultrasonic wave signal processing is improved, and high-quality imaging of internal tissues of a human body is realized through electro-acoustic and acoustic-electric conversion.

The shell 1 is used for containing, sealing, supporting and protecting internal devices of the medical detection probe, and the shape design of the shell can be designed and adjusted according to different specific application purposes. A support structure 4 may also be provided within the housing 1, with the transducer array 2 fixedly attached to the support structure 4.

The transducer array 2 is located inside the housing 1 at an end close to the human tissue and comprises a plurality of first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers 201 and a plurality of second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers 202. The plurality of first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers 201 are arranged around the plurality of second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers 202 to form an array surface, and the array surface may be adjusted according to a use situation, for example, a plane or a curved surface. Compared with a single tube device of the PMUT, the transducer array 2 can expand the propagation range of ultrasonic waves, improve the receiving detection precision, and is suitable for applications requiring lateral resolution in imaging. The arrangement mode of the arrays has different arrangement modes for different specific performances, and besides the PMUT arrays formed by a plurality of PMUT single tubes, the arrays also have different forms of PMUT arrays such as circular ring shape, cross arrangement, staggered arrangement and the like. Due to the fact that the density of the PMUT array is large, a plurality of imaging pictures with different positions and different signal strengths exist in one detection, and the precision of the B ultrasonic image to be acquired can be improved through processing of a graphic algorithm.

As for the shape of the array formed by combining the multiple transducers, the shape may be adjusted as needed, for example, the shape is rectangular, circular, polygonal, etc., as shown in fig. 2, in the present technical solution, the shape of the array formed by combining the multiple transducers is rectangular, and includes five rows of transducers, each row is formed by arranging at least 1 first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer or at least 1 second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer. And in every two adjacent columns, one column is formed by arranging at least 1 first piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer, and the other column is formed by arranging at least 1 second piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer. As shown in fig. 3, at least two adjacent rows of transducers in the rectangular array may be regarded as one group, each group includes multiple rows, each row in one group is formed by at least 1 arrangement of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers or each row in one group is formed by at least 1 arrangement of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers, the two groups are sequentially arranged, in each adjacent two groups in the rectangular array, one group is formed by at least 1 arrangement of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers, and the other group is formed by at least 1 arrangement of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers. In other embodiments, as shown in fig. 4, the array shape of the combined multiple transducers may also be designed to be circular, where the circular array includes multiple concentric ring structures, each ring structure is composed of at least 2 arrangements of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer or at least 2 arrangements of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer, and each two adjacent ring structures in the circular array are composed of: one ring structure is comprised of at least 2 first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays and the other ring structure is comprised of at least 2 second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays.

The first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer 201 can receive an electric signal sent by external corollary equipment through the cable 3, and then realizes the transmission of ultrasonic waves according to the electric signal; and an electric signal can be formed according to an echo signal of ultrasonic waves reflected by human tissues, and the electric signal is transmitted to external supporting equipment through the cable 3 and is converted into an image through signal processing. The piezoelectric layer of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 201 is made of lead zirconate titanate (Pb (Zr, Ti) O)₃Abbreviated PZT. In this embodiment, PZT can be fabricated by conventional crystal dicing (for larger pitch designs) or by semiconductor deposition processes (for smaller pitch designs fabricated using MEMS processing techniques). PZT deposition: the PZT is formed by a sputtering method, and is a solid target material prepared by mixing in advance according to a special atomic ratio. Under high vacuum, the PZT target material is sputtered by the plasma generated by high voltage and is deposited on the surface of the silicon slice. And (3) applying a certain temperature to the silicon substrate to recrystallize the PZT during sputtering to form the required piezoelectric crystal. In other embodiments, the piezoelectric crystal may be manufactured by using pulsed laser deposition, atomic layer deposition, etc., and may also be manufactured by using a machining method of mechanical cutting by using a conventional process, which is not limited herein. PZT as a piezoelectric ceramic has the characteristics of reasonable physical strength, chemical inertness and manufacturing cost, and compared with other piezoelectric ceramics, the PZT has higher charge sensitivity, can be polarized under lower field strength, and can bear higher working temperature. PZT with 10 times higher transmitting power than AlN can be used as piezoelectric material applied to the first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer 201 to generate ultrasonic signals with higher intensity, so that the detection of the echo signals of the ultrasonic waves is easier, and the piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer is beneficial to later-stage human tissuesAnd (4) imaging quality.

The second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 202 forms an electrical signal according to an echo signal of ultrasonic waves reflected by human tissues, the electrical signal is transmitted to external supporting equipment through the cable 3, the signal is processed and converted into an image, and a piezoelectric material used for a piezoelectric layer of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 202 is aluminum nitride (AlN). In this embodiment, the piezoelectric crystal forming method of the AlN material is also formed by a sputtering method. In other embodiments, the piezoelectric crystal may be manufactured by using pulsed laser deposition, atomic layer deposition, etc., and may also be manufactured by using a machining method of mechanical cutting by using a conventional process, which is not limited herein. AlN has good dielectric properties, high thermal conductivity, low coefficient of thermal expansion, and does not interfere with standard semiconductor processing chemicals and gases. The lead-free AlN has high mechanical hardness and allows maintaining piezoelectric performance at high temperature, and has sensing sensitivity 10 times higher than PZT due to its low dielectric constant, that is, its received power 10 times higher than PZT. On the basis that AlN is applied to the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 202 as a piezoelectric material to receive the echo signal of the ultrasonic wave, a large number of echo signals can be detected, and the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 201 is also started to receive the echo signal of the ultrasonic wave, and the ultrasonic signal before the echo signal is transmitted by the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 201 with large transmission power, on the basis, the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 202 using AlN as a piezoelectric material and the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 201 receive the echo signal of the ultrasonic wave together, so that more echo signals can be further detected, and the quality of obtaining the human tissue image is effectively improved.

The specific application process comprises the following steps: the medical detection probe is electrically connected with external matching equipment through a cable 3, a first piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer 201 in a transducer array 2 controls the emission of ultrasonic waves according to electric signals sent by the external matching equipment, after the ultrasonic waves are transmitted to human tissues, a part of the ultrasonic waves are reflected back when encountering an interface with different acoustic impedances, the reflected back echoes are received by a second piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer 202 and are converted into electric signals, meanwhile, the first piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer 201 is started and is also used for receiving the reflected back echoes, then the electric signals jointly converted by the second piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer 202 and the first piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer 201 are transmitted to the external matching equipment through the cable 3, the processed signals are converted into images, and finally, the imaging of a human body is realized.

The medical detection probe of the utility model can be further provided with a wearing accessory (not shown in the attached drawings), if the probe is designed to be used for imaging detection of joints, a fixing structure such as a belt, a buckle or a magic tape can be added on the probe, so that the probe can be conveniently fixed on a certain body part in detection to obtain a better detection result.

In summary, the present invention provides a novel medical detection probe, which may include a transducer array 2, wherein the transducer array 2 includes a plurality of first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers 201 and second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers 202. The piezoelectric layer of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 201 is PZT, which can be used to transmit and receive ultrasonic waves, respectively; the piezoelectric layer of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer 202 is AlN, which is used only for receiving ultrasonic waves. The piezoelectric material PZT has better transmitting power, the piezoelectric material AlN has better ultrasonic receiving power, the piezoelectric material AlN is applied to the medical detection probe by virtue of the property advantages of two different piezoelectric materials, and the first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer 201 is also used for receiving an echo signal of ultrasonic waves on the basis that the second piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer 202 can better receive the echo of the ultrasonic waves, so that the sensitivity of the medical detection probe is enhanced; the surface shape of the transducer array 2 can be adjusted according to the needs, such as a plane or a curved surface, so that the universality of the medical detection probe is improved; the transducer array can be designed in different shapes such as a rectangular array, a circular array and the like, and different arrangement designs are carried out according to actual requirements, so that the medical detection probe can effectively improve the transmitting intensity of ultrasonic signals and the sensitivity of receiving ultrasonic echo signals. Based on the structural design, the quality of imaging of the medical detection probe to human tissues is effectively improved.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention, and those skilled in the art can make various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations without departing from the principle and spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims (10)

1. A novel medical detection probe is characterized by comprising a shell, a first piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer, a second piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer and a cable, wherein the first piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer and the second piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer are connected inside the shell and located at one end, close to human tissue, of the shell, the cable is electrically connected to the first piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer and the second piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer respectively and extends out from one end, far away from the human tissue, of the shell,

the piezoelectric material of the piezoelectric layer of the first piezoelectric micro-mechanical ultrasonic transducer is lead zirconate titanate piezoelectric ceramic PZT used for transmitting ultrasonic signals and receiving echo signals;

the piezoelectric material of the piezoelectric layer of the second piezoelectric micromechanical ultrasonic transducer is aluminum nitride (AlN) and is used for receiving echo signals.

2. The novel medical detection probe of claim 1, wherein the number of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers is greater than 1.

3. The novel medical detection probe of claim 1, wherein the number of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers is greater than 1.

4. The novel medical detection probe according to claim 1, wherein the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer and the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer form a transducer array, and the shape of the array surface of the transducer array is a plane or a curved surface.

5. The novel medical detection probe of claim 4, wherein the array of transducers is a rectangular array comprising at least four columns, each column consisting of at least 1 of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays or at least 1 of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays.

6. The novel medical detection probe of claim 5, wherein each two adjacent columns in the rectangular array are composed of: one column is comprised of at least 1 of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements and another column is comprised of at least 1 of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements.

7. The novel medical diagnostic probe of claim 5, wherein at least two adjacent columns are grouped into a group, each of said groups consisting of at least 1 of said first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements or each of said groups consisting of at least 1 of said second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements, each of said two adjacent groups of said rectangular array consisting of: one set of each column is comprised of at least 1 of said first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements, and another set of each column is comprised of at least 1 of said second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements.

8. The novel medical sensing probe of claim 4, wherein the array of transducers is a circular array comprised of at least two concentric ring structures, wherein each ring structure is comprised of at least 2 of the first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays or at least 2 of the second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays.

9. The novel medical test probe of claim 8, wherein the composition of each two adjacent ring structures in the circular array is: one ring structure is comprised of at least 2 of said first piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements and the other ring structure is comprised of at least 2 of said second piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrangements.

10. The novel medical detection probe of claim 1, further comprising a wearing accessory, wherein the wearing accessory is any one of a belt, a buckle and a magic tape.

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