EP0271394A1 - Sonde d'échographe avec circuit de connexion perfectionné - Google Patents

Sonde d'échographe avec circuit de connexion perfectionné Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0271394A1
EP0271394A1 EP87402634A EP87402634A EP0271394A1 EP 0271394 A1 EP0271394 A1 EP 0271394A1 EP 87402634 A EP87402634 A EP 87402634A EP 87402634 A EP87402634 A EP 87402634A EP 0271394 A1 EP0271394 A1 EP 0271394A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
elements
probe according
blocks
support
faces
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP87402634A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Jean-François Gelly
Patrick Dubut
Jacques Elziere
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
General Electric CGR SA
Original Assignee
Thomson CGR
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Thomson CGR filed Critical Thomson CGR
Publication of EP0271394A1 publication Critical patent/EP0271394A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B06—GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS IN GENERAL
    • B06B—METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS OF INFRASONIC, SONIC, OR ULTRASONIC FREQUENCY, e.g. FOR PERFORMING MECHANICAL WORK IN GENERAL
    • B06B1/00—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency
    • B06B1/02—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency making use of electrical energy
    • B06B1/06—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency making use of electrical energy operating with piezoelectric effect or with electrostriction
    • B06B1/0607—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency making use of electrical energy operating with piezoelectric effect or with electrostriction using multiple elements
    • B06B1/0622—Methods or apparatus for generating mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency making use of electrical energy operating with piezoelectric effect or with electrostriction using multiple elements on one surface
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
    • Y10T29/00—Metal working
    • Y10T29/42—Piezoelectric device making

Definitions

  • the subject of the present invention is an ultrasound probe with an improved connection circuit. It finds more particularly its application in the medical field where such probes are used for ultrasound examinations capable of allowing the revelation of the internal structures of the tissues of a human body examined. It can nevertheless find its application in all other areas of the industry where ultrasound scanners are used whose frequency of the acoustic signal is high. Indeed the increase in this frequency leads to a corresponding reduction in the size of the probes. This results in specific connection problems due to miniaturization.
  • the present invention provides a solution.
  • An ultrasound system in principle comprises means for emitting an electric signal vibrating at an acoustic frequency, a transducer probe receiving this electric signal and transforming it into a mechanical excitation, this probe being applied against a medium to be insonified.
  • the backscatter signal which results from the insonification of the medium is generally received by the same probe, during emission stoppages.
  • the reversible probe thus transforms the acoustic signal which reaches it into an electrical signal. This is applied to reception bodies.
  • the means which effect the transformation of an electrical signal into an acoustic signal and / or vice versa comprise in a known manner elements of a piezoelectric crystal.
  • the connection device object of the invention relates to the electrical connection of all the elements of the probe.
  • the piezoelectric elements are generally aligned against each other to form a strip.
  • a front face is distinguished on this strip, on the side on which the useful acoustic signal is propagated, and a rear face opposite the front face.
  • the process of electrical-acoustic transformation takes place most efficiently when the front and rear faces of the elements of the bar are provided with electrodes.
  • the electric signal is applied to these electrodes, it causes the existence of an alternating electric field in the piezoelectric crystal. It vibrates and emits an acoustic signal. The opposite occurs at the reception.
  • the dimensions of the piezoelectric elements are preferably calculated as a function of the acoustic working frequency of the probe and as a function of the speed of propagation of the waves in the crystal. These two quantities determine the wavelength ⁇ of the acoustic vibration in the crystal.
  • the piezoelectric elements are aligned side by side, parallel to their length, and their height is the distance between the two electrodes.
  • the length of the elements must be greater than ten times ⁇ , that the height must be substantially equal to ⁇ / 2, and that the width, measured orthogonally to these first two half-dimensions, must be less than or equal to ⁇ / 6.
  • the elements of the bar must have a width and therefore a connection pitch less than or equal to about 30 micrometers.
  • connection wires In these a sheet of connection wires is applied against each face of the bar. In these two layers, individual connections are assigned to each of the separate electrodes of the piezoelectric elements. During manufacture, the two plies extend on either side of the bar as two wings. To reduce the size of such a probe, these two wings are folded backwards later. Now the evolution of the technique has now consecrated the use of curved bar probes. In these bars the alignment of the elements to a convex curved shape, adapted on the one hand to direct contact with the bodies to be examined, and having the other effect of limiting the number and the complexity of the electronic circuits for controlling these bars during their use in sector scanning. For obvious reasons of simplicity, the bars are first made flat on a flexible support and then later bent. We then realized that the recommended connection technique was unusable. You cannot bend the sheets twice in orthogonal directions.
  • a relay is used, next to each element, which is in the form of a parallelepipedal block having the particularity of being metallized on at least two adjacent faces.
  • This relay therefore includes in itself the desired fold. Indeed by one of its faces it can be connected, in the same plane, with an electrode of the element. By its other face, electrically connected to the first, it can be connected to a connection circuit presented orthogonally.
  • This solution which is particularly useful in the context of the use of curved bars, convex as well as concave, can of course also be used with straight bars, in a broken line, etc.: it replaces the folding of the sheets.
  • the invention relates to an ultrasound probe of the type comprising aligned piezoelectric elements, mounted on a support common to all the elements, and electrical connection means for connecting electronic circuits to these elements, characterized in that these means connection comprise on at least one side of the alignment and to the right of each of the elements, at least one block in general parallelepiped shape, metallized on at least two of its adjacent faces, and fixed on the support.
  • FIG. 1 represents a strip of an ultrasound probe according to the invention.
  • the strip 1 comprises piezoelectric elements: for example the element 2 consisting of two half-elements 2a and 2b. These elements are aligned, and mounted between a support 3, common to all the elements, and acoustic transition blades such as 4, divided into two half-blades 4a and 4b, assigned to each of these elements.
  • An element 2 is thus composed of two half-elements, this division being used to solve diaphone problems which may appear between two adjacent elements, for example elements 2 and 5.
  • the front 6 and rear 7 faces of each element are respectively provided with a metallization 8, 9, which is used to induce an electric field in the element when an electrical signal is applied to them.
  • the metallizations of the front and rear faces make it possible to apply an electric field parallel to the direction of propagation of the acoustic waves. This arrangement is advantageous because it improves the coupling coefficient between the electric field and the acoustic field.
  • the piezoelectric elements comprise for example plastic elements such as, for example, PVF2, or PVT PVF copolymer; a ceramic such as for example PZT, PZT polymer composite or PBTi03 or a crystal.
  • What characterizes the invention is essentially the presence, on at least one side of the alignment A of the elements, here for example on the right, of blocks 10 of generally parallelepiped shape, assigned to each of the elements (block 10 is assigned to element 2), and which have the distinction of being metallized on at least two of their adjacent faces.
  • the faces 11 to 14 of the block 10 are even all metallized.
  • the metallizations 8 and 9 of the elements, produced in planes parallel to the plane of the bar can be simply connected, in parallel planes, to metallized faces of the block.
  • the continuity of the metallization, at the location of the adjacent faces of the blocks brings a possibility of electrical connection to these elements in planes which are now perpendicular to the plane of the bar.
  • Relay blocks can have any shape. With the parallelepipedal characteristic, it is understood that these blocks have at least two metallized faces located in two substantially perpendicular planes.
  • FIGS. 2a to 2c we will examine a general method of manufacturing a bar according to the invention.
  • a thin support 3 for example made of polyurethane, and in the general shape of an inverted T, metallization is carried out by a known process. For example by evaporation-spraying under vacuum or even by electrolysis.
  • a bar of a piezoelectric crystal 15 is fixed in which the elements will be cut later.
  • ceramic strips (FIG. 2a) are produced, the length L of which is equal to the length of the crystal 15, that is to say the length necessary to make the bar.
  • the strip 16 is then metallized on all its faces 11-14 so as to ensure electrical continuity at its periphery.
  • the metallization is separated into two electrically independent metallizations 21 and 22.
  • grooves 17, 18 are produced through the metallization as far as the ceramic body of the strip.
  • two strips are produced for each bar in this way.
  • Each strip 16 and 19 is then fixed on either side of the crystal 15 above the branches 23 and 24 of the support 3.
  • the general shape of the inverted T of the support is used to wedge on either side of this support strips 16 and 19.
  • a so-called transition blade 20 is then produced, the thickness of which, in a known manner, is equal to a quarter of the future working acoustic wavelength of the probe.
  • This blade 20 is metallized by its lower face.
  • the blade is then fixed to the crystal 15 and to the strips 16 and 19.
  • One of the two metallizations of each strip, the metallization 21 can then come into contact with the metallization of the support 3, on a vertical blank and on a horizontal blank of this support; while the other metallization, metallization 22, can come into contact under the metallization of the blade 20.
  • the two metallizations 21 and 22 open onto the lateral face 13 of the strip 16, it has thus been possible to present electrically, on a lateral face perpendicular to the plane of crystal 15, the metallizations of the upper and lower faces of this crystal.
  • the electrical continuity between the metallization 8 of one face of the crystal, the metallization of the blade 20, and the metallizations 22 on the one hand, and between the metallization 9, the metallization of the support, and the metallizations 21 on the other hand is ensured by pressing and gluing with possibly conductive glues.
  • the strips, the blade, and the support one obtains a perfect assembly by playing if necessary on the flexibility of the blade 20. For this purpose one can even provide an elastic space e between the limit of the edge of the crystal and the edge of the strips so as to allow the blade to flex.
  • the strips can be metallized as shown in Figure 2d.
  • the strip 16 comprises a single metallization extending from one face 26 to a face 27.
  • the metallization of the face 26 would be in contact with the metallization of the branch 23 of the support 3, and the vertical, lateral metallization 27 would be assigned to its connection by the right of the bar.
  • the metallization 26 would be in contact with the metallization of the blade 20 while the vertical, lateral metallization 27 presented on the left this time would ensure continuity. In this way, the other electrode of crystal 15 could be accessed electrically from the left.
  • the strip of piezoelectric elements is cut from the bar. posite thus constituted.
  • cuts are made, for example with a saw, along this bar with a chosen pitch.
  • cutouts 27 (FIG. 1) between elements are deeper than cutouts 28 inside the same element.
  • dashes 29 of the base of the cutouts 27 shows that these cutouts extend into the support 3, that is to say below the base of the strips. Therefore the strips are cut into series of blocks (such as 10) assigned ipso-facto each to a piezoelectric element.
  • the intermediate cuts 28 are made in the middle of each element to a depth recalled by a dotted line 30 whose plane is underlying the altitude of the groove 17 which, in the preferred version, separates the metallizations from the strips 16 in two electrically independent metallizations. It follows from this way of doing that it is possible, for the same element, to access its lower electrode by a connection applied to a lateral face 31 of the relay block of this element. Access to the upper electrodes of each of the two half-elements which constitutes this element by metallizations 32 and 33, belonging to the same block, and having been electrically separated from each other by the cutout 28. It is noted that the connections 31 to 33 are effectively located in a plane now perpendicular to the plane of the bar 1.
  • FIG. 3a shows embodiments of the rest of the connection means, the realization of which is simplified due to the invention.
  • the invention is more particularly advantageous in the case of production of curved bars.
  • the curvature is obtained after performing the separations 27 and 28 by applying the deformable support 3 to an adequate curved shape.
  • the micro-assembly solution shown in FIG. 3a comprises, with the preferred variant with grooving 17,18 of fully metallized strips, two printed circuits 35,36 (obtained for example by etching) each comprising a flared part whose head has a rounded shape to nest under, or near the support curved 3.
  • Each printed circuit has a number of tracks 37.38 flaring in a corolla in the head of the circuit.
  • the number of tracks is equal to the number of piezoelectric elements of the probe.
  • these printed circuits include a track 39 which crowns the circuit.
  • the track 39 is intended to be connected, by electrical connection wires 40 and 42, to the connections 32 and 33 of each of the parallelepipedic blocks.
  • the ends of each of the tracks 37, 38 are intended to be connected by connecting wires 41 to the connections 32 of the parallelepipedic blocks. Similar connections are made for circuit 36.
  • connections 40 to 42 provide, compared to the mounting of the cited prior art, an additional advantage of symmetry of the connection.
  • a connection relating to one of the faces of the elements was organized on one side of the bar, while the other connection (to the other face of the elements) was organized on the other. side of the bar. This resulted in a harmful modification of the operation of the piezoelectric crystal.
  • the supply by the same side of the strip, or better still in a preferred manner by the two sides of the strip at the same time, of the two electrodes of each element has the effect of avoiding this drawback.
  • the technique used to make connections 40 to 42 is derived from a bonding technique of the type practiced in semiconductor technology.
  • circuit 35 is approached on each side of the curved bar.
  • Circuit 35 comprises, at the ends of the tracks and facing the crowning track, metallized holes 43 to 45. These metallized holes are arranged opposite the faces 31 to 33 respectively of the relay blocks of each of the piezoelectric elements. The metallization of these holes as well as the metallization of these lateral faces is adapted to receive a tiny drop of Indium obtained by growth.
  • the printed circuit is applied against the strip so that the corresponding drops touch. Then by moderate heating (90 °) under vacuum, the reflow takes place.
EP87402634A 1986-11-28 1987-11-24 Sonde d'échographe avec circuit de connexion perfectionné Withdrawn EP0271394A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR8616660 1986-11-28
FR8616660A FR2607590B1 (fr) 1986-11-28 1986-11-28 Sonde d'echographe avec circuit de connexion perfectionne

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0271394A1 true EP0271394A1 (fr) 1988-06-15

Family

ID=9341353

Family Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP87907780A Expired - Lifetime EP0335878B1 (fr) 1986-11-28 1987-11-24 Sonde d'echographe avec circuit de connexion perfectionne
EP87402634A Withdrawn EP0271394A1 (fr) 1986-11-28 1987-11-24 Sonde d'échographe avec circuit de connexion perfectionné

Family Applications Before (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP87907780A Expired - Lifetime EP0335878B1 (fr) 1986-11-28 1987-11-24 Sonde d'echographe avec circuit de connexion perfectionne

Country Status (7)

Country Link
US (1) US5027822A (ja)
EP (2) EP0335878B1 (ja)
JP (1) JPH02503753A (ja)
AT (1) ATE85450T1 (ja)
DE (1) DE3784078T2 (ja)
FR (1) FR2607590B1 (ja)
WO (1) WO1988004090A1 (ja)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2702309A1 (fr) * 1993-03-05 1994-09-09 Thomson Csf Procédé de fabrication d'une sonde acoustique multiéléments, notamment d'une sonde d'échographie.

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5281887A (en) * 1992-06-15 1994-01-25 Engle Craig D Two independent spatial variable degree of freedom wavefront modulator
JP3487981B2 (ja) * 1994-10-20 2004-01-19 オリンパス株式会社 超音波プローブ
WO2004091255A1 (ja) * 2003-04-01 2004-10-21 Olympus Corporation 超音波振動子及びその製造方法
US10347818B2 (en) * 2016-03-31 2019-07-09 General Electric Company Method for manufacturing ultrasound transducers
US10596598B2 (en) * 2016-12-20 2020-03-24 General Electric Company Ultrasound transducer and method for wafer level front face attachment

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5666992A (en) * 1979-11-02 1981-06-05 Yokogawa Hokushin Electric Corp Manufacture of ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic probe concerned
GB2079102A (en) * 1980-06-27 1982-01-13 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd Arc scan transducer array having a diverging lens
JPS5990498A (ja) * 1982-11-15 1984-05-24 Toshiba Corp 超音波探触子
EP0140363A2 (en) * 1983-10-31 1985-05-08 Advanced Technology Laboratories, Inc. Phased array transducer construction
EP0145429A2 (en) * 1983-12-08 1985-06-19 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Curvilinear array of ultrasonic transducers

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4217684A (en) * 1979-04-16 1980-08-19 General Electric Company Fabrication of front surface matched ultrasonic transducer array
JPS60140153A (ja) * 1983-12-28 1985-07-25 Toshiba Corp 超音波探触子の製造方法
JPS63207300A (ja) * 1987-02-24 1988-08-26 Toshiba Corp 超音波プロ−ブ

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5666992A (en) * 1979-11-02 1981-06-05 Yokogawa Hokushin Electric Corp Manufacture of ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic probe concerned
GB2079102A (en) * 1980-06-27 1982-01-13 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd Arc scan transducer array having a diverging lens
JPS5990498A (ja) * 1982-11-15 1984-05-24 Toshiba Corp 超音波探触子
EP0140363A2 (en) * 1983-10-31 1985-05-08 Advanced Technology Laboratories, Inc. Phased array transducer construction
EP0145429A2 (en) * 1983-12-08 1985-06-19 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Curvilinear array of ultrasonic transducers

Non-Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, vol. 5, no. 129 (E-70)[801], 19 août 1981; & JP-A-56 66 992 (YOKOGAWA DENKI SEISAKUSHO K.K.) 05-06-1981 *
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, vol. 8, no. 206 (E-267)[1643], 20 september 1984; & JP-A-59 90 498 (TOSHIBA K.K.) 24-05-1984 *

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2702309A1 (fr) * 1993-03-05 1994-09-09 Thomson Csf Procédé de fabrication d'une sonde acoustique multiéléments, notamment d'une sonde d'échographie.
WO2004073892A1 (fr) * 1993-03-05 2004-09-02 Sixte De Fraguier Procede de fabrication d’une sonde acoustique multielements, notamment d’une sonde d’echographe

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO1988004090A1 (fr) 1988-06-02
US5027822A (en) 1991-07-02
JPH02503753A (ja) 1990-11-08
ATE85450T1 (de) 1993-02-15
FR2607590B1 (fr) 1989-09-08
DE3784078D1 (de) 1993-03-18
EP0335878B1 (fr) 1993-02-03
EP0335878A1 (fr) 1989-10-11
FR2607590A1 (fr) 1988-06-03
DE3784078T2 (de) 1993-06-09

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