JPH11299779A - Ultrasonic probe, manufacture thereof, and ultrasonic diagnostic equipment using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultrasonic probe which enables to reduce the generating of artifacts, to observe a tomographic image inside a subject with high resolution, and to three dimensionally display an arbitrary location by electronic scanning. SOLUTION: The vibrator of this ultrasonic probe is constituted of outer electrodes and inner electrodes. The outer electrodes are placed on the top and bottom faces in the thickness direction and the inner electrodes are placed at prescribed intervals within the thickness. Both kinds of electrodes are connected so that the outer electrodes at the top or bottom faces and the inner electrodes placed alternately are to be mutually different wiring in two side faces. Plural vibrator elements made by such a manner are arranged in orthogonally crossed two directions to form a two dimensionally arranged vibrator so as to execute transmit/receive ultrasonic waves by every vibrator element. Thus the generation of artifact is reduced to enable to observe the tomographic image inside the subject in high resolution and to stereoscopically display an arbitrary location by electronic scanning.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe used for examining a diagnostic site of a subject using ultrasonic waves, a method for manufacturing the same, and an ultrasonic diagnosis using the ultrasonic probe. Ultrasound probe capable of observing a tomographic image inside a subject with high resolution while reducing the occurrence of artifacts, and enabling three-dimensional display of an arbitrary portion by electronic scanning, and a method for manufacturing the same, and The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using the ultrasonic probe.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional array type ultrasonic probe is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, electrodes 2 and 3 are formed on the upper and lower surfaces of a vibrator 1 made of a piezoelectric material. The vibrator 1 and the electrodes 2 and 3 are moved in the long axis direction y so as to electronically scan ultrasonic waves. −
It is divided into strips at y ′ and arranged in a row. The electrode 2 located on the subject side is connected to the ground, one or two acoustic matching layers 4 are provided on the upper surface thereof, and the acoustic attenuation layer 5 is provided on the opposite electrode 3. I have. A pattern 8 of a flexible printed board 6, 7 is connected to each of the electrodes 2, 3 by soldering 9 or the like, and is connected to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as a main body via a connector (not shown). Note that an acoustic lens 10 is further fixed on the upper surface of the acoustic matching layer 4.

In the ultrasonic probe having the structure shown in FIG. 8, when a tomographic image is obtained by electronically scanning an ultrasonic wave, a plurality of elements of the vibrator 1 divided into strips form focused ultrasonic waves. Then, a tomographic image is obtained by scanning while repeating the transmission and reception of the beam. However, in the long axis direction yy ′ in which a plurality of elements of the vibrator 1 are arranged, the focal length L can be arbitrarily set from near to far from the vibrator 1 by appropriately selecting the number of elements to be used. In the short-axis direction xx ′ perpendicular to the above, the focal length L of the acoustic lens 10 is constant, and a clear tomographic image can be obtained in a range of L ₁ corresponding to the depth of focus, but other regions are not included. Then, there was a problem that the image became unclear.

FIG. 9 is proposed to solve the above-mentioned problem. In addition to dividing the vibrator 1 in the long-axis direction yy ', the vibrator 1 is not only divided in the short-axis direction x-y', but also in the short-axis direction x-y '.
x ′ is also divided and divided into blocks in a two-dimensional plane to form a block. In this case, it is possible to arbitrarily set the focal distance L also far from nearby vibrator 1 for minor axis direction x-x 'without using an acoustic lens 10 of the, when the focal depth L ₂ of FIG. 8 It is possible to satisfy L ₂ ≧ L ₁ with respect to the focal depth L ₁ , and it is expected that a clear image can be obtained for the entire tomographic image. Such an ultrasonic probe is described in “1996 IEEE ULTRASONICS SYMPOSIUM, pp1523-152
6 (1996) ”.

However, as shown in FIG. 9, when the vibrator 1 is divided in the short-axis direction xx ', the electrical impedance becomes high, and there is a possibility that energy is not efficiently supplied from the power supply. . FIG. 10 explains the situation, and is a graph qualitatively showing the relationship between the number n of divisions of the vibrator 1 in the short-axis direction xx ′ and the element impedance Ω. Assuming that the element impedance before dividing the vibrator 1 in the short-axis direction xx ′ is Ω ₀ , Ω∝n · Ω _{0 is obtained} , and the element impedance Ω increases in proportion to the division number n. It is expected that the sensitivity of the vibrator 1 will be degraded as a result.

Therefore, the single-layer vibrator 1 shown in FIG. 11A is connected to a power supply 11 so that the element impedance Ω does not increase even if the vibrator 1 is divided in the short-axis direction xx ′ as described above. It is considered that a method of laminating the vibrator 1 in a plurality of layers as shown in FIG. That is, for example, a plurality of internal electrodes 12, 13 are alternately arranged at predetermined intervals within the thickness of the vibrator 1 on one side of both opposing side surfaces, and one electrode 2 and the internal electrode 13 are connected to the wiring 14. And the other electrode 3 and the internal electrode 12 are connected by the wiring 15 and laminated in three layers, the element impedance Ω is 1 in the case of the single-layer vibrator 1 shown in FIG. It is thought that it can be reduced to / 9.

FIG. 12 is a graph for explaining the situation, and is a graph qualitatively showing a relationship between the number N of stacked devices in which the vibrator 1 is stacked in a plurality of layers and the device impedance Ω. Assuming that the element impedance of the single-layer vibrator 1 is Ω ₁ , Ω∝Ω ₁ / N ² , and it is understood that the element impedance Ω is inversely proportional to the square of the number N of layers. x
-X 'is divided by the vibrator 1
Can be suppressed by stacking. Such an ultrasonic probe is described in “ULTRASONIC IMAGING 17, pp95-113 (199
5) ".

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a schematic structure of an ultrasonic probe proposed as described above, wherein (a) is a part of a plan view and (b) is a front view. In FIG. 13B, the connection between one electrode 2 and the internal electrode 13 by the wiring 14 and the connection between the other electrode 3 and the internal electrode 12 by the wiring 15 are the same as those in FIG. As in the case, as shown in FIG. 13 (a), a through hole 16 is formed at a boundary portion divided into elements of the individual vibrator 1, and the inside thereof is filled with a conductive material. As shown in FIG. 7, the element adjacent to the through hole 16, the upper electrode 2, the internal electrode 13, the internal electrode 12 ', and the lower electrode 3' of the element are connected to each other. Each element is cut by a cutting groove 17 in the direction yy ′ and is divided into respective elements by a cutting groove 18 in the short-axis direction xx ′.

[0009]

However, in a conventional ultrasonic probe in which transducers are two-dimensionally arranged as shown in FIG. 13, the width W of each element is, for example, 3.45 mm and the through hole 16 has a diameter D of, for example, 0.2 mm, a depth B of, for example, 0.37 mm, a height H of, for example, 0.66 mm,
Although it is structurally feasible because the lateral width W of each element is relatively large, the focal position of the ultrasonic beam can be varied from two directions, ie, the major axis direction yy ′ and the minor axis direction xx ′, to increase the height. In order to obtain a tomographic image of image quality, the width W needs to be as narrow as the depth B. When the lateral width W of each element is reduced in this way, the lateral width W is substantially equal to the diameter D of the through hole 16, the area of the electrodes 2 and 3 is reduced, and the element impedance is increased. It will be. Therefore, the sensitivity of the vibrator 1 may be deteriorated. In addition, the characteristics of each element may be non-uniform due to variations in the positioning of the internal electrodes 12 and 13 and the formation of the through holes 16. For this reason, artifacts may occur in the obtained ultrasonic tomographic image.

Accordingly, the present invention addresses such problems, reduces the occurrence of artifacts, observes a tomographic image inside a subject with high resolution, and displays a three-dimensional display of an arbitrary portion by electronic scanning. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic probe which can be used, a method for manufacturing the same, and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using the ultrasonic probe.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, an ultrasonic probe according to the present invention comprises external electrodes on both upper and lower surfaces in the thickness direction of a piezoelectric material, and a plurality of layers inside a plurality of layers at predetermined intervals within the thickness. A plurality of vibrator elements each having electrodes and connecting the external electrodes on the upper surface or the lower surface and every other internal electrode on two different side surfaces so as to form a separate system of wirings in two orthogonal directions. To form a two-dimensional array transducer, and transmit and receive ultrasonic waves for each transducer element.

An electrode plate having a contact at a position corresponding to each of the two-dimensionally arranged transducer elements is connected to the lower surface side of the transducer.

Further, an acoustically attenuating layer having anisotropic conductivity is fixed on the lower surface side of the vibrator, and the lower surface of the acoustically attenuating layer has a lower surface corresponding to each of the two-dimensionally arranged vibrator elements. May be connected to an electrode plate having a contact point.

Furthermore, an acoustic attenuation layer is fixed on the lower surface side of the vibrator, and one external electrode and every other internal electrode are provided on one side surface of each of the two-dimensionally arranged vibrator elements. May be provided, and the electrode plates may be provided in parallel for each row in which the transducer elements are arranged in one row.

Further, the method of manufacturing the above-mentioned ultrasonic probe includes:
A plurality of internal electrodes are disposed transversely at predetermined intervals within the thickness of the piezoelectric material, and external electrodes are provided on the upper and lower surfaces of a vibrator laminated in a plurality of layers to form a laminated vibrator. A cutting element is formed by cutting into a strip shape with a predetermined width, and external electrodes on the upper and lower surfaces and alternate internal electrodes are separated from each other by wiring of another system on both opposing side surfaces along the longitudinal direction of each cutting element. The cutting elements are aligned and fixed at predetermined intervals, and cut at predetermined intervals in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the cutting elements.
This is to form a transducer element group arranged in a dimension.

Further, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a related invention includes a probe for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave to and from a subject, an ultrasonic wave having a predetermined beam waveform transmitted from the probe, and An ultrasonic circuit unit that forms a predetermined reception waveform from the received reception signal and further processes the reception signal; and a control unit that controls transmission timing of the ultrasonic circuit unit and display timing from the reception signal. In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a display unit that displays an ultrasonic image, as the probe,
Each of the above means uses the ultrasonic probe.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic probe according to the present invention. This ultrasonic probe is a device that actually transmits ultrasonic waves into a subject and receives reflected waves in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that inspects a diagnostic site of the subject using ultrasonic waves.
A conductive acoustic matching layer 21, an insulating sheet 22 to which a conductive film is added, and a conductive acoustic attenuation layer 23.
, A flexible printed board 24, and a base 25.

The laminated vibrator 20 is a feature of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, external electrodes 27 are provided on both upper and lower sides in the thickness direction of a piezoelectric material 26 such as lead zirconate titanate ceramic (PZT). , 28 are provided, and a plurality of layers of internal electrodes 29, 30 are disposed transversely from one side surface to the other side surface at predetermined intervals within the thickness of the piezoelectric material 26 so as to be laminated into, for example, three layers. External electrodes 27, 28 on the upper or lower surface and alternate internal electrodes 2 on two different side surfaces
9 and 30 are connected so as to form a separate system of wiring.
A plurality of the laminated vibrators 20 are arranged in two orthogonal directions to form a two-dimensionally arranged vibrator. For example, the short axis direction xx 'and the long axis direction yy' shown in FIG.
Are arranged in a plane two-dimensionally in a plane including. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 31 denotes the piezoelectric material 2
6 are arranged two-dimensionally to form a transducer element group.
Reference numeral 32 denotes a cutting groove in the short axis direction xx '.

That is, in FIG.
6, an insulating film 33 is formed on one end face of one internal electrode 29 disposed within the thickness of the other internal electrode 30.
An insulating film 34 is also formed on the end face on the side opposite to the above, a conductive film 35 is formed between the upper external electrode 27 and one end face of the other internal electrode 30 in this state, and the lower external Electrode 2
A conductive film 36 is formed between 8 and the end face on the opposite side of one internal electrode 29. Thus, one system wiring for connecting the upper external electrode 27, the conductive film 35, and the other internal electrode 30, and another for connecting the lower external electrode 28, the conductive film 36, and the one internal electrode 29, are provided. And the system wiring. As a result, the upper external electrode 27 and one internal electrode 29
Between one internal electrode 29 and the other internal electrode 30,
This is equivalent to the arrangement of external electrodes having different polarities between the other internal electrodes 30 and the lower external electrode 28, and the laminated vibrator 20 is laminated in three layers.

According to such a configuration of the laminated vibrator 20, since the internal electrodes 29 and 30 are only disposed transversely from one side surface to the other side surface, the internal electrodes 29 and 30 have a predetermined length as in the prior art. It is not necessary to give the dimensional accuracy of stopping. In addition, since the outer electrodes 27 and 28 and the inner electrodes 29 and 30 are wired by the insulating films 33 and 34 and the conductive films 35 and 36, there is no need to use through holes as in the related art, and the dimensional restriction due to the through hole diameter is limited. I will not receive it.

The acoustic matching layer 21 shown in FIG. 1 matches the acoustic impedance of the piezoelectric material 26 with the acoustic impedance of a living body as a subject. In this embodiment, the acoustic matching layer 21 is made by mixing a conductive material. And have conductivity.

The insulating sheet 22 covers the entire upper surface of each of the laminated vibrators 20 constructed as described above, and is made of acoustically low attenuation, such as polyimide. Conductive film 37 made of copper or the like on the side
Is added. As a result, the external electrode 27 on each of the laminated vibrators 20 is connected to the acoustic matching layer 21 having conductivity.
Is electrically connected to the above-mentioned conductive film 37, and is connected to the ground by the conductive film 37. FIG.
In the figure, reference numeral 38 denotes a resin filled in the cutting grooves 31 and 32. The resin 38 bonds the laminated vibrators 20 and acoustically reduces crosstalk of signals between the elements. ing.

The sound attenuating layer 23 is formed by each of the laminated vibrators 20.
Attenuates the ultrasonic waves so that the ultrasonic waves exiting from the back surface of the multilayer oscillator 20 do not return to the laminated vibrator 20 again. In this embodiment, the ultrasonic waves are made conductive by mixing a conductive material. .

The flexible printed board 24 serves as an electrode plate connected to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body (not shown) on the lower surface side of each of the laminated vibrators 20 configured as described above. At a position corresponding to each of the arranged transducer elements, there is provided a contact point 39 called, for example, BGA (Ball Grid Alley), and a connector (not shown) for connecting to a main body via a cable is built in a multilayer structure. It is formed on a printed board. As a result, each of the laminated oscillators 2
The external electrode 28 below the zero is electrically connected to the above-mentioned flexible printed board 24 via the acoustic attenuation layer 23 having conductivity.

Further, the base 25 fixes the whole of the laminated vibrators 20, and transmits the ultrasonic waves so that the ultrasonic waves emitted from the back surface of each of the laminated vibrators 20 do not return to the laminated vibrators 20 again. It is a material that attenuates, and is made of a material that greatly attenuates ultrasonic waves. In such a state, ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received by the laminated transducers 20 of the individual transducer elements arranged as described above. In FIG. 1, the number of laminated layers of the laminated vibrator 20 is three, but the present invention is not limited to this, and another laminated number may be used as long as it is an odd-numbered layer. In the above, the sound attenuation layer 23
Is not always necessary and can be omitted.

In the above configuration, each laminated oscillator 20 is driven through the flexible printed board 24 by a signal from an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body (not shown) to generate ultrasonic waves from the laminated oscillator 20, Ultrasonic waves reflected from an object to be measured, for example, a diagnostic site in the subject, are received by each of the laminated transducers 20, and the received signals are processed by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body to display an ultrasonic image. At this time, as shown in FIG. 1, a large number of laminated vibrators 20 as vibrator element groups arranged two-dimensionally in a plane are arranged not only in the long axis direction yy 'but also in the short axis direction xx'. By driving while controlling in a predetermined relationship so that the range of the focal point is widened, a clear tomographic image can be obtained from the vicinity of the diagnosis site in the subject to a deep portion. In addition, by performing a plurality of B-mode scanning in an arbitrary direction by two-dimensionally electronically scanning the large number of laminated oscillators 20, or by scanning a focused beam within the entire field of view or a partial field of view, It is possible to obtain a real-time three-dimensional image.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention. This embodiment is
A second acoustic attenuation layer 40 having anisotropic conductivity is fixed to the lower surface side of the acoustic attenuation layer 23 provided on the lower surface side of each laminated vibrator 20 shown in FIG. Is connected to a flexible printed board 24. The second sound attenuating layer 40 includes the sound attenuating layer 23.
In the same manner as described above, the ultrasonic wave is further attenuated so that the ultrasonic wave emitted from the back surface of each of the laminated vibrators 20 does not return to the laminated vibrator 20 again. Consists of materials. This makes it possible to well attenuate the returning ultrasonic waves between each of the laminated vibrators 20 and the flexible printed board 24 and to transmit the ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body (not shown) via the flexible printed board 24. The signal to be applied is
Can be transmitted well. In addition, also in this embodiment, the above-mentioned sound attenuation layer 23 is not necessarily required,
It can be omitted.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a third embodiment of the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention. This embodiment is
Instead of providing the flexible printed board 24 shown in FIG. 1, an acoustic attenuation layer 23 is fixed on the lower surface side of each laminated vibrator 20, and one side surface of each of the two-dimensionally arranged laminated vibrators 20 is, for example, An electrode plate 41 on which a wiring (conductive film 36) for connecting the lower external electrode 28 to every other internal electrode 29 is provided, and this electrode plate 41 is
0 is provided in parallel for each row arranged in one row. In addition,
The electrode plate 41 is configured as a flexible printed board connected to the conductive film 36 provided on one side surface of the laminated vibrator 20 shown in FIG. Also in this embodiment, the acoustic attenuation layer 23 is not always necessary and can be omitted.

FIG. 5 is a process chart for explaining a method of manufacturing the ultrasonic probe configured as described above. First,
As shown in FIG. 5A, the upper external electrode 27, the first piezoelectric material 26a, one internal electrode 29, and the second piezoelectric material 2
6b, the other internal electrode 30, the third piezoelectric material 26c, and the lower external electrode 28 are vertically stacked in layers, and in this state, the layers are integrally sintered. As a result, a laminate including three layers of piezoelectric materials 26a, 26b, and 26c having a certain extent is formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, the material of the laminated vibrator laminated and sintered as described above is cut at a predetermined width W in the short-axis direction xx ′ shown in FIG. The strip-shaped cutting elements 42 are formed separately. Therefore, FIG.
FIG. 5 (b)
A plurality of strip-shaped cutting elements 42 shown in FIG.

Next, with respect to the strip-shaped cutting element 42 formed as described above, as shown in FIG. An insulating film 33 having a predetermined width is provided on one end surface of the electrode 29.
An insulating film 3 having a predetermined width is formed on the end face opposite to the other internal electrode 30.
4 are formed. Therefore, the one end face of the one internal electrode 29 and the end face opposite to the other internal electrode 30 are each insulated.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5D, the cutting element 42 ′ which has been subjected to the insulating processing as described above is further provided with the upper external electrode 27 on the side surface on which the insulating film 33 is formed. A conductive film 35 is formed so as to be connected to one end face of the internal electrode 30 of the first electrode, and the lower external electrode 28 and one internal electrode 29 are formed on the side surface on which another insulating film 34 is formed.
The conductive film 36 is formed so as to be connected to the end face on the opposite side. Thereby, the external electrodes 27, 2 on the upper and lower surfaces on both opposing side surfaces along the longitudinal direction of each cutting element 42 '.
8 and every other internal electrode 29, 30 are connected so as to be wirings of different systems.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5 (e), a predetermined number of the cutting elements 42 ″ processed by wiring as described above are aligned at a predetermined interval S, and an adhesive After filling and fixing, the cutting element 42 "is cut at a predetermined interval so as to have an element width B in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the cutting element 42". Then, after cutting in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, the adhesive 45 is filled and fixed in the gap 45 at that portion in the same manner as described above. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 1, a transducer element group in which the laminated transducers 20 are two-dimensionally arranged in a plane including the short-axis direction xx ′ and the long-axis direction yy ′ is formed.

After manufacturing a transducer element group in which the laminated transducers 20 are two-dimensionally arranged as described above, the acoustic matching layer 21 having conductivity shown in FIG. Then, the steps of forming a conductive acoustic attenuation layer 23, a flexible printed board 24, and a base 25 are sequentially performed to finally manufacture an ultrasonic probe. In addition,
In FIG. 5, the number of laminated layers of the laminated vibrator 20 is three, but the present invention is not limited to this, and another laminated number may be used as long as it is an odd-numbered layer. In the above description, only the vibrator portion is cut in the short-axis direction xx ′ and the long-axis direction yy ′. However, the acoustic matching layer 21 shown in FIG. Alternatively, the sound attenuating layer 23 may be cut into two dimensions after being bonded and fixed.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as a related invention of the ultrasonic probe. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus obtains an ultrasonic image of a diagnostic site in a subject using ultrasonic waves to assist in diagnosis, and includes a probe 50 that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from the subject, An ultrasonic wave having a predetermined beam waveform is transmitted from the probe 50 and the probe 50
An ultrasonic circuit unit 51 that forms a predetermined reception waveform from the reception signal received at step S1 and further processes the reception signal, and controls a transmission timing of the ultrasonic circuit unit 51 and a display timing from the reception signal. It has a control unit 52 and a display unit 53 for displaying an ultrasonic image. The ultrasonic circuit 5
1 is a wave phasing unit 54 for transmitting an ultrasonic wave having a predetermined beam waveform from the probe 50, and a wave arranging unit 54 for forming a predetermined reception waveform from a received signal received by the probe 50. Phase part 55,
A signal processing unit 56 for taking in the signal received from the wave phasing unit 55 at a high S / N. Then, the probe 50
As an example, an ultrasonic probe configured as shown in FIG. 1 or FIGS. 3 and 4 is used.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a three-dimensional image is obtained using the ultrasonic probe and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7A, by selecting an arbitrary element from among the plurality of laminated transducers 20 constituting the probe 50, a fan-shaped ultrasonic beam is emitted to the diagnostic site 57 in the subject. Scanning is performed so as to rotate about a certain axis as shown by reference numerals 58a and 58b,
Are obtained, and a three-dimensional image is constructed from this. Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, by selecting an arbitrary element from among the plurality of laminated vibrators 20, a fan-shaped ultrasonic beam is applied to the diagnostic site 57 in the subject by reference numerals 59a and 59b. , 59c so as to swing like a pendulum to obtain a tomographic image of the diagnostic site 57 in a plurality of directions, and construct a three-dimensional image from this.

[0037]

The present invention has been configured as described above.
According to the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention, the dimensional accuracy of stopping the plurality of internal electrodes at a predetermined length as in the related art does not need to be obtained. In addition, since the through electrodes are not used to connect the external electrodes on the upper surface or the lower surface and every other internal electrode so as to form a separate line of wiring, there is no dimensional restriction due to the diameter of the through holes. I do not receive. Therefore, the layers are stacked in a plurality of layers and are orthogonal to each other.
It is possible to eliminate the characteristic variation among the plurality of transducer elements constituting the two-dimensionally arranged transducers arranged in the directions. From this, it is possible to observe the tomographic image inside the subject with high resolution and reduce the occurrence of artifacts, and to enable three-dimensional display of an arbitrary portion by electronic scanning. Thereby, the quality of diagnosis based on the ultrasonic image can be improved as compared with the related art.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic probe according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing a structure of a laminated vibrator of the ultrasonic probe.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a third embodiment of the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a process chart for explaining a method of manufacturing the ultrasonic probe configured as described above.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as a related invention of the ultrasonic probe.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a three-dimensional image is obtained using the ultrasonic probe and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the structure of a conventional array-type ultrasonic probe.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a structure of an ultrasonic probe which conventionally has a vibrator divided two-dimensionally in a plane into blocks.

FIG. 10 is a graph showing a change in element impedance when a vibrator is divided in a short axis direction.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing a case where the vibrator is formed in a single layer and a case where the vibrator is stacked in a plurality of layers.

FIG. 12 is a graph showing a change in the number of stacked devices and the device impedance in a plurality of layers.

FIG. 13 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a structure of a conventional ultrasonic probe configured by dividing a transducer laminated in a plurality of layers into two dimensions.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 20 laminated oscillator 21 conductive acoustic matching layer 22 insulating sheet 23 conductive acoustic attenuation layer 24, 41 flexible printed board 25 base 26, 26a, 26b, 26c piezoelectric material 27, 28 ... external electrodes 29, 30 ... internal electrodes 33, 34 ... insulating films 35, 36 ... conductive films 37 ... conductive films of insulating sheets 39 ... contacts 40 ... second acoustic attenuation layers 42, 42 'having anisotropic conductivity 42 "... cutting element 50 ... probe 51 ... ultrasonic circuit section 52 ... control section 53 ... display section

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An external electrode is provided on both upper and lower surfaces in the thickness direction of a piezoelectric material, and a plurality of layers of internal electrodes are provided at predetermined intervals in the thickness. A plurality of vibrator elements formed by connecting the internal electrodes with each other so as to form a separate system wiring are arranged in two orthogonal directions to form a two-dimensional array vibrator. An ultrasonic probe characterized by transmitting and receiving. 2. An ultrasonic wave according to claim 1, wherein an electrode plate having a contact at a position corresponding to each of said two-dimensionally arranged transducer elements is connected to a lower surface side of said transducer. Probe. 3. An acoustically attenuating layer having anisotropic conductivity is fixed to the lower surface side of the vibrator, and the lower surface of the acoustically attenuating layer corresponds to each of the two-dimensionally arranged vibrator elements. 2. The ultrasonic probe according to claim 1, wherein an electrode plate having a contact point is connected at a position where the ultrasonic probe moves. 4. An acoustic attenuation layer is fixed to the lower surface of the vibrator, and one external electrode and every other internal electrode are provided on one side surface of each of the two-dimensionally arranged vibrator elements. 2. The ultrasonic probe according to claim 1, wherein an electrode plate on which wiring to be connected is formed is provided, and the electrode plates are provided in parallel for each row in which the transducer elements are arranged in one row. 5. A laminated vibrator is formed by arranging a plurality of internal electrodes transversely at predetermined intervals within a thickness of a piezoelectric material and providing external electrodes on upper and lower surfaces of a vibrator laminated in a plurality of layers, The laminated vibrator is cut into strips with a predetermined width to form cutting elements, and external electrodes on both upper and lower surfaces and every other internal electrode are formed on both opposing side surfaces along the longitudinal direction of each cutting element. The wires are connected so as to form a separate line, and then the cutting elements are aligned and fixed at predetermined intervals, and cut at predetermined intervals in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the cutting elements, thereby reducing A method of manufacturing an ultrasonic probe, comprising forming transducer elements arranged in a three-dimensional manner. 6. A probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject,
An ultrasonic circuit for transmitting an ultrasonic wave having a predetermined beam waveform from the probe, forming a predetermined reception waveform from a reception signal received by the probe, and further processing the reception signal; and In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a control unit for controlling a transmission timing of an ultrasonic circuit unit and a display timing from a received signal, and a display unit for displaying an ultrasonic image, the probe is used as the probe. 4. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using the ultrasonic probe according to any one of 4.