JPH03251000A - Ultrasonic wave vibrator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce a damage in the case of handling a vibrator by surrounding an insulation member around all vibration chips of a vibrator comprising plural vibration chips so as to protect the outer peripheral surface of the vibrator without being exposed. CONSTITUTION:After a circular vibrator 1 is fixed onto a base 6 through an adhesives, an insulator 5 such as an epoxy resin is formed in a ring shape so as to surround the vibrator 1. Then the vibrator 1 and the insulator 5 are diced into grating by using a dicer to form notch slits 7 and the vibrator is split into lots of vibration chips 1a. Then a material such as an epoxy resin is packed to each notch slot 7 to form an insulator 2 thereby supporting each vibrator chip 1a and the insulation chip 5a integrally. Succeedingly, the upper face of the vibrator 1 is polished, the vibrator 1 is removed from the base 6, the face is turned over and fixed again onto the base 6, the lower side is polished, and the vibrator 1 is removed from the base 6, and electrodes 3, 4 are provided respectively to the upper and lower faces. Since the insulator 5 exists, a damage caused to the outer peripheral surface at dicing and at completion of product is reduced.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Purpose of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is directed to dividing one vibrator into a plurality of vibrator pieces and insulating each vibrator piece in order to prevent unnecessary vibrations. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic transducer held together by an ultrasonic transducer.

(Prior Art) An ultrasonic transducer (hereinafter simply referred to as a transducer) used in an ultrasonic diagnostic device, etc. has a circular transducer 1 made of piezoelectric ceramics on the top and bottom surfaces, as shown in FIG. Each has a structure in which a first electrode 3 and a second electrode 4 are provided. When a driving voltage is applied between the first and second electrodes 3.4, the vibrator 1 vibrates at a unique resonant frequency and generates ultrasonic waves. On the other hand, when an ultrasonic wave is detected by the vibrator 1, a voltage corresponding to the intensity of the ultrasonic wave is induced between the first and second electrodes 3 and 4.

However, if the vibrator 1 has a single structure as shown in Figure 6, unnecessary vibrations will occur, so the resonant frequency in the radial direction (lengthwise direction) of the vibrator 1 will be lower than the resonant frequency in the thickness direction. This results in a disadvantage that the sensitivity of the vibrator is reduced.

For this reason, as shown in FIG. 7, a structure in which the vibrator 1 is divided into a plurality of vibrator pieces 1a and each vibrator piece 1a is held together by an insulator 2 such as a resin is developed, for example, in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-1915.
This is shown in Publication No. 1.

According to the structure in which the vibrator pieces 1a are divided into a plurality of vibrator pieces 1a, the radial dimension of each vibrator piece 1a is reduced, so the vibration characteristics are improved and the reduction in the radial resonance frequency as described above is avoided. It can be prevented.

The vibrator having the structure shown in FIG. 7 is manufactured by the method shown in FIG. 8, for example. First, as shown in (a), the vibrator 1 is fixed onto the base 6 with an adhesive, and then, as shown in (b), the vibrator 1 is diced into a lattice shape using a dicer to form cut grooves 7. is divided into a large number of vibrator pieces 1a. Next, as shown in (c), the cut grooves 7 are filled with an insulator 2 such as resin to hold each vibrator piece 1a together. Next, this vibrator 1, which is made up of the integrated vibrator pieces 1a, is removed from the base 6, and the first and second electrodes 3 and 4 are provided on the upper and lower surfaces, respectively, thereby creating the structure shown in FIG. The structure is completed.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in an ultrasonic transducer with such a conventional structure, the outer peripheral surface of the transducer, which is made up of a large number of transducer pieces, is exposed, so this part is likely to be damaged when handled. There's a problem. In other words, when dicing in the manufacturing process as described above,
When handling a completed transducer as a component to be incorporated into an ultrasonic diagnostic device, etc., the outer circumferential surface of the transducer is the most fragile part, so it is easily damaged by pressure from a dicer or when it comes into contact with something. . If a damaged portion occurs in the vibrator in this way, the vibration characteristics will change, making it impossible to obtain a vibrator suitable for the intended use or purpose, and in the worst case, the vibrator will become a defective part.

The present invention has been made in response to the above-mentioned problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic transducer that reduces damage when handling the transducer.

[Structure of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems)] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides that a plurality of vibrator pieces are held together via a first insulator, and the top surface of each vibrator piece and An ultrasonic transducer having first and second electrodes common to all the transducer pieces on the lower surface, characterized in that all the transducer pieces are surrounded by a second insulator. .

(Function) By surrounding all the vibrator pieces constituting the vibrator with an insulator, the outer peripheral surface of the vibrator is protected by the insulator without being exposed. As a result, the force applied to the outer circumferential surface when handling the vibrator is alleviated by the insulator, thereby reducing the occurrence of damage.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a first embodiment of the ultrasonic transducer of the present invention, in which the transducer 1 is divided into a plurality of transducer pieces 1a, and each transducer piece 1a is are held together by an insulator 2. Further, a first electrode 3 and a second electrode 4, which are common to all the vibrator pieces 1a, are provided on the upper and lower surfaces of each vibrator piece 1a, respectively. Further, all the vibrator pieces 1a constituting the vibrator 1 are surrounded by a second insulator 5 such as the epoxy resin. As a result, the outer peripheral surface of the vibrator 1 is protected by the second insulator 5 without being exposed.

Next, a method of manufacturing the ultrasonic transducer having the structure of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First, as shown in (a), the circular vibrator 1 is fixed onto the base 6 via adhesive, and then a second insulator such as epoxy resin is applied to surround the vibrator 1 as shown in (b). The body 5 is formed into a ring shape. Next, as shown in (c), the vibrator 1 and the second insulator 5 are
It is diced into a lattice shape using a dicer, and cut grooves 7 are formed to divide it into a large number of vibrator pieces 1a. Note that not only the vibrator piece 1a but also a large number of second insulator pieces 5a are formed.

Next, as shown in (d), each cut groove 7 is filled with a material such as epoxy resin to form the second insulator 2.

As a result, each vibrator piece 1a and the second insulator piece 5a are held together. Next, as shown in (e), the top surface of the vibrator 1 is polished as shown by the broken line, and then, as shown in (f), the -degree vibrator 1 is removed from the base 6, the surface is reversed, and the top surface is placed on the base 6 again.
The upper surface is fixed, and the lower surface is similarly polished as shown by the broken line to form a thickness that will generate the desired vibration frequency. Next, the structure shown in FIG. 1 is obtained by removing the vibrator 1 formed by integrating the vibrator pieces 1a from the base 6 and providing the first and second electrodes 3 and 4 on the upper and lower surfaces, respectively. Complete.

According to the vibrator obtained by such a manufacturing method,
Since the outer peripheral surface of the vibrator 1 is protected in advance by the second insulator 5 before dicing, the force applied to the outer peripheral surface during dicing is alleviated by the presence of the second insulator 5. Therefore, the damage that occurs on the outer circumferential surface during dicing is much reduced compared to the conventional case, and most of the damage occurs on the circumferential surface of the second insulator 5. Further, even when the completed vibrator 1 is handled as a component, the second insulator remains as it is, so even if it comes into contact with something, the possibility of damage is extremely reduced.

Next, another method for manufacturing the ultrasonic transducer of the first embodiment will be described in a third embodiment.
This will be explained with reference to the figures. First, as shown in (a), the circular vibrator 1 is fixed on the base 6 via adhesive, and then (b)
), the vibrator 1 is diced into a lattice shape using a dicer, cutting grooves 7 are formed, and the vibrator 1 is divided into a large number of vibrators 1a. Next, as shown in (C), each cut groove 7 is filled with a material such as epoxy resin, and at the same time, it is filled in a ring shape so as to surround the vibrator 1. As a result, the first and second insulators 2 and 5 are simultaneously formed, so that each vibrator piece 1a is held integrally.

Next, as shown in (d), the top surface of the vibrator 1 is polished as shown by the broken line, and then the vibrator 1 is turned upside down and the base 6 is
By fixing it again on the top and polishing the bottom surface as shown by the broken line, it is formed to a thickness that will generate the desired vibration frequency. Subsequently, the vibrator 1 is removed from the base 6, and the first and second electrodes 3.4 are provided on the upper and lower surfaces, respectively, thereby completing the structure shown in FIG.

According to the vibrator obtained by such a second manufacturing method, the outer circumferential surface of the vibrator 1 is protected by the second insulator after dicing, so damage to the outer circumferential surface is reduced after dicing. . That is, compared to the vibrator obtained by the above manufacturing method, although the outer peripheral surface is not protected during dicing, the second insulator 5 remains as it is when handled as a completed component, so the occurrence of damage is reduced. Further, according to this second manufacturing method, the first and second insulators 2.5 can be formed simultaneously, so there is an advantage that the number of steps can be reduced.

As the ultrasonic transducer according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the first
The second insulator 2 and the second insulator 5 can be made of different materials. The first and second insulators 2.5 are not limited to the same material, but can be made of any material as long as they have good adhesion to each other and have similarities such as similar coefficients of thermal expansion. Combinations are possible.

FIG. 4 shows an ultrasonic transducer according to a third embodiment of the present invention, and shows a structure in which a plurality of transducer pieces 1a are integrally formed so as to be curved in one direction. By forming the curved surface 8 in this manner, it is possible to provide a particularly focusing characteristic, so that a vibrator with excellent resolution can be obtained.

Such a structure can be achieved by using materials that are easily deformed by heat as the first and second insulators 2 and 5, and by using jigs 8 and 9 with curved surfaces 8A and 9A as shown in FIG. This can be easily accomplished by doing so.

Although the present embodiment has been described using an example in which a circular vibrator is used, the present invention is not limited to this and may be applied to other shapes such as a rectangle or an ellipse. The insulator can be easily formed with high precision by using a well-known resin filling technique.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, all the vibrator pieces of the vibrator composed of a plurality of vibrator pieces are surrounded by an insulator, so that the outer peripheral surface of the vibrator is exposed. Since the vibrator is protected without being exposed to damage, it is possible to reduce damage when handling the vibrator.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 shows a first embodiment of the ultrasonic transducer of the present invention (a) to (e) is a process diagram showing a second manufacturing method of the transducer of this embodiment, and Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a sectional view showing the manufacturing method of the embodiment of FIG. 4, FIGS. 6 and 7 are sectional views showing a conventional vibrator, and FIGS. 8(a) to (C
) is a process diagram showing a method of manufacturing the conventional vibrator shown in FIG. 1... Ultrasonic transducer, 1a... Ultrasonic transducer piece, 2
...first insulator, 3...first electrode, 4...
2nd electrode, 5... Second insulator, 7... Cut groove.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A superstructure in which a plurality of vibrator pieces are held together via a first insulator, and first and second electrodes common to all the vibrator pieces are provided on the upper and lower surfaces of each vibrator piece, respectively. An ultrasonic transducer characterized in that all transducer pieces are surrounded by a second insulator. (2) The ultrasonic transducer according to claim 1, wherein the first insulator and the second insulator are made of the same material.