JPS5991800A - Manufacture of ultrasonic wave probe - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To manufacture easily an ultrasonic wave probe having a narrow ceramic oscillator by cutting off a matching layer and a thin plate so as not to produce defective contact. CONSTITUTION:The ceramic oscillators 18 having electrodes 15, 16 on both upper and lower surfaces are arranged on a line by a prescribed interval on an ultrasonic wave absorbing body at first. The thin plate 21 being conductive as a common lead and folded easily is edhered by soldering to a part of the upper electrode 15 and superposed on the electrode 15. An insulating adhesives 22 having a high viscosity so as not to be absorbed into cutting grooves 19, 20 is coated to the side face bonding the thin plate 21 to the absorbing body 14 and the oscillator 18. Further, the thin plate 21 is folded near the end of the oscillator 18 and adhered and fixed to the oscillator 18 and the absorbing body 14. After a sound matching layer 23 is provided closely onto the upper electrode 15, the layer 23 is cut off together with the thin plate 21 at the position of the cut groove 20, allowing to manufacture the ultrasonic wave probe having narrowered oscillator 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an ultrasound probe conveniently used in ultrasound diagnostic equipment and the like.

Conventional Structure and Problems First, the basic structure of an ultrasonic probe will be described with reference to FIG. 1. In the figure, 1 is a ceramic resonator, and a plurality of ceramic resonators are arranged side by side, and each of the three ceramic resonators A1. A
2. A3, B1. B2. B3, cl.

C2, C3, ... Nyote vibrator group A
,B.

C2... is formed. 2 is an upper surface electrode of each ceramic vibrator 1, and 3 is a lower surface electrode thereof. The upper electrodes 2 are connected by a common lead wire 4, and are covered with one or more acoustic matching layers 5 made of synthetic resin, glass, or the like. The lower surface electrodes 3 are connected to each group by a cape/L=5, and these are provided and supported on the ultrasonic absorber 7. 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d
...Rivers are in groups A, B, C, D, respectively.
・This is switching for control.

With this configuration, the ceramic vibrator 1 vibrates when a high-frequency electric signal is applied, and generates a superacoustic wave. The ultrasonic waves propagating downward are absorbed by the ultrasonic absorber 7, and the ultrasonic waves propagating upward pass through the matching layer 5 and are incident on a subject such as a living body. The ultrasonic waves reflected from the subject's physical strength pass through the matching layer 6 and are converted back into electrical signals by the ceramic vibrator 1, and the switches 8a and 8b
, 8c.

The signal is input to an ultrasonic diagnostic device or the like via 8d...

Therefore, for example, the switches 8a and 8b are closed, a high-frequency pulse electric signal is input to the ceramic transducer groups A and H to generate ultrasonic waves, and the reflected signals are received, and then the switch 8a is opened after a certain period of time. switch 8b,
SC is closed and operated in the same way, and after a certain period of time, switch 8b is opened and switches 8c and 8d are closed and operated in the same way; The generation position of the sound wave can be shifted, and a tomographic image in a plane parallel to the longitudinal direction can be obtained.

An example of the conventional manufacturing method of such an ultrasonic probe is shown in the second example.
This will be explained using figures.

In this manufacturing method, first, as shown in (a), the lower surface electrode 3 of the ceramic diaphragm 8, which has electrodes 2 and 3 provided on both the upper and lower surfaces, is connected to the cable 6, and this is connected to the cable 6 of the ultrasonic absorber 7. to be fixed at′. Next, as shown in (B), the metal foil 10 that will become the common glue wire 4 is connected to the end of the upper surface electrode 2 of the ceramic diaphragm 1 and bent, and the ceramic pickup plate 9 and the It is fixed to the sound wave absorber 7. after that,(
As shown in c), the ceramic diaphragm 9 is connected to the electrodes 2 and 3 on the upper and lower surfaces.
are cut along with the metal foil 10 at predetermined intervals. 12 is a cutting groove between the vibrators 1 in each group A +, B, etc., which cuts up to the electrode 3 on the lower surface, and 13
The cable 5 is also cut at the cutting groove between each croup. Finally, the acoustic matching layer 5 made of glass or the like is formed on the upper electrode 2, and the portion 14 corresponding to the cutting groove 13 is cut to complete the ultrasonic probe. The acoustic matching layer 5 is divided in this way by the adjacent Cruze ceramic vibrator 1.
This is to prevent ultrasonic waves from propagating to.

Furthermore, before cutting the ceramic diaphragm 9, the metal foil 1o is connected and fixed to the top electrode 2 of the ceramic diaphragm 9.
When the cut 1 frf thread is connected and fixed, the adhesive 11 for fixing the metal foil penetrates into the cutting groove 1.2.13K and adheres to the top electrode 2 of the ceramic vibrator 1, causing the acoustic matching layer 5 to be attached to the top electrode 2. However, in the conventional manufacturing method as described above, when cutting the ceramic imaging plate 9, the metal foil 10 is also removed. Since they are cut at the same time, if the width of the connection between the top electrode 2 of the ceramic vibrator 1 and the metal foil 10 after cutting is made as thin as about 0.1 to 0.3 mm, the electrical Ceramic resonators with narrow widths are more likely to cause connection failures.
This has the disadvantage that it is difficult to manufacture a probe with this.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method that can easily manufacture an ultrasonic probe with a narrow ceramic transducer by eliminating the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks. do.

Structure of the Invention In the manufacturing method of the present invention, first, ceramic vibrators having electrodes on both upper and lower surfaces are arranged at predetermined intervals on an ultrasonic absorber. Next, conductive and easily bendable /i! 7 plates are glued together so that a portion of the thin plate overlaps the top electrode.

Next, an insulating adhesive with a high viscosity that does not get sucked into the groove between the ceramic vibrators is applied to the part where this thin plate is attached to the ceramic vibrator and the ultrasonic absorber, and the thin plate is attached to the ceramic vibrator. Bend it near the end of the group and glue it to the ultrasonic absorber and ceramic vibrator. After that, the matching layer is glued onto the top electrode, and the matching layer and the thin plate are simultaneously cut at the middle position of a vibrator group consisting of a plurality of ceramic vibrators to separate them into groups. Manufacture the probe.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the method for manufacturing an ultrasonic probe according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In this manufacturing method, first, as shown in FIG. 3(a), on the ultrasonic absorber 14,
Electrodes 15 and 16 are attached to both the upper and lower surfaces, and the electrode 15 is attached to the lower surface.
is croup A, which is a set of three.

For each croup A, the ceramic oscillators 18 connected with 16 common cables are arranged in a row at predetermined intervals, and the cables and ceramic diaphragms are stacked and fixed in the same way. , B, C...... cut to the depth to cut the electrode 16 on the lower surface to provide a cutting groove 19, and between each group A, B, C...... cut to the cable 17. It is preferable to form an arrangement by cutting to a depth to provide the cutting grooves 20.

Next, as shown in (b), a conductive and easily bendable thin plate 21 as a common lead wire is attached to one end of the upper surface electrode 15 so that a part thereof overlaps with the electrode 16, and soldered. Adhesive or adhesive with conductive adhesive or other method. Next, cut grooves 1 are formed in the side surfaces of the thin plate 21 to be bonded to the ultrasonic absorber 14 and the ceramic vibrator 18.
Apply a high viscosity insulating adhesive 22 that will not be sucked into the parts 9 and 20. At that stage, as shown in (c), the thin plate 21 is bent near the end of the ceramic vibrator 18 and the thin plate 21 is adhesively fixed to the ceramic vibrator 18 and the ultrasonic absorber 14. At this time, the viscosity of the high viscosity insulating adhesive 22 is
The viscosity should be so high that it does not penetrate into the cutting grooves 19 and 20 between application and hardening.

Furthermore, after the acoustic matching layer 23 made of synthetic resin or glass is provided in close contact with the top electrode 15, the acoustic matching layer 23 is cut together with the thin plate 21 at the cutting groove 2o as shown in (E). By doing this, the ultrasonic probe is completed. In this way, as shown in FIG. 3(E), the width of the cut thin plate 21 can be increased compared to the conventional method (three times in the illustrated embodiment), and the width of the thin plate 21 and the upper electrode 15 can be increased. Since the cutting stress acting on the bonded part (of Can be manufactured to

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, even an ultrasonic probe with a small ceramic transducer width can cut the matching layer and the thin plate without causing poor contact, and it is possible to cut the matching layer and the thin plate very easily. It has excellent manufacturing effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a (I11) side view of a general ultrasonic probe, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the manufacturing process according to a conventional example of an ultrasonic probe manufacturing method, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a manufacturing process according to an example of the conventional ultrasonic probe manufacturing method. It is a perspective view and a side view showing the manufacturing process by the manufacturing method of the ultrasonic probe in the example. 14... Ultrasonic absorber, 16... Upper surface electrode, 17... ... Cable, 18 ... Ceramic resonator, 19.20 ... Cutting groove, 21 ...
... Thin plate, 22 ... Insulating adhesive, 23 ・
...Acoustic matching layer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Ceramic transducers having electrodes on both upper and lower surfaces are arranged at predetermined intervals on the ultrasonic absorber, and a thin plate that is conductive and can be bent into valleys is attached to one end of the upper electrode of the group of ceramic transducers. is bonded so that a part of the thin plate overlaps with the top electrode, and the thin plate is bonded to the ultrasonic absorber and the ceramic vibrator with a high viscosity that does not get sucked into the groove between the vibrators. 1) Bend the 7J thin plate near the end of the group of ceramic field elements to bond the thin plate to the ceramic vibrator and ultrasonic absorber, and then apply a matching layer. is bonded onto the upper surface electrode, and then the matching layer and the thin plate are simultaneously cut at an intermediate position of a vibrator group made up of a plurality of the ceramic vibrators. Method of producing children.