JPS61118099A - Ultrasonic wave probe - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To connect easily an electrode and a lead wire by forming the contact surface at least with a vibrator by a flexible conductive material and laying a plate extended in the packing material wall surface direction between an ultrasonic wave and a packing material. CONSTITUTION:Between an ultrasonic weave vibrator 1 and a packing material 3, a plate 12 lies to reflect the ultrasonic wave radiated to the rear surface of the ultrasonic wave radiated to the rear surface of a vibrator 1 and improve high sensitivity and wide band. The plate 12 is composed of a conductive material in which the contact surface at least with the vibrator 1 has a flexibility, and extended in a packing material 3 wall surface direction. Since one side 7a out of electrodes 7 of the vibrator 1 contacts with the plate 12, the lead wire can be connected to the extending part of the plate 12, the fitting can be easily executed and reliability is also improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an ultrasound probe equipped with a plurality of ultrasound @ movers.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems 1 As shown in FIG. 3, the conventional ultrasonic probe has a block-shaped ultrasonic transducer 1 mounted on a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped backing material 3 via a signal MKA 7a. is fixed, a first matching layer 4 and a second matching layer 5 are arranged via the ground electrode 7b, a flexible electrode plate 2 is formed that partially contacts the signal electrode 78, and a conductive layer is provided on the ground electrode 7b. Ground plate 8 via adhesive 6
It becomes connected to.

The backing material 3 is arranged for the purpose of absorbing ultrasonic waves radiated to the back surface of the vibrator.

However, since there is only adhesive between the backing material and the transducer, it is not possible to completely prevent ultrasonic waves from being emitted to the back of the transducer, resulting in decreased sensitivity and narrow This led to band-wideization.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, a flat plate 9 is interposed between the vibrator 1 and the backing material 3, and a lead wire 11 is placed on the flat plate 9.
By placing the flat plate 9 in this way, the ultrasonic waves radiated to the rear surface of the actuator are reflected, increasing the sensitivity and widening the band. Those who are currently employed are currently employed. In addition, grounding 1i pole 7
11 is connected to the grounding lead 10.

However, with such a structure, it is difficult to position the extraction electrode formed on the flat plate 9 and the vibrator electrode, the contact area between the vibrator and the electrode is small, and the electrode is easily disconnected. There were problems such as the hassle of connecting the lead wires.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a highly sensitive or broadband ultrasonic probe that is easy to manufacture and highly reliable.

[Summary of the Invention] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ultrasonic probe in which a plurality of block-shaped output sound waves @ ribs are fixed on a rectangular parallelepiped backing material via a flat plate, wherein the flat plate has at least The contact surface with the vibrator is made of a flexible conductive material, is connected to the electrode of the vibrator, and has a tip extending in the direction of the wall surface of the backing material. .

Embodiments of the Invention] FIG. 1 shows the structure of an ultrasonic probe of the present invention. There is a conductive flat plate 12 between the ultrasonic vibrator and the backing material, and the ultrasonic vibrator 1 is connected to a conductive adhesive 6.
It is glued with. The thickness of this flat plate 12 is determined depending on the purpose of increasing sensitivity or widening the band, and is made to be, for example, 1/4 of the wavelength, and the flat plate has a flexible structure, so that it can be integrated with the electrode. It has become. Each of these is laminated as a rectangular plate-like body, but is then cut into a flat plate using a dicer to form a plurality of array-shaped (block-shaped) vibrator groups. Since the flat plate and the flexible electrode are integrated in this way, the ultrasonic probe is easy to manufacture and has high reliability because the contact area between the vibrator and the north pole is large. Note that the tip of the flat plate 12 extends outward, and an insulating coating 13 is formed on the extended portion.

As shown in FIG. 2, a flat plate 12 is composed of a substrate 12a and a flexible conductive layer 12b formed on its surface, and the thickness of this η conductive layer 12b is greater than the wavelength of the ultrasonic wave. It has a sufficiently small thickness and is equivalent to being integrated with a flexible electrode, and its tip extends outward and is covered with insulation, similar to the embodiment shown in Figure 1. It has a great effect.

What is not shown in FIG. 5 is the acoustic impedance of the probe of the present invention shown in FIG. The difference in sensitivity with respect to the conventional probe shown in FIG. 3 was determined by simulation when the probe was changed. Other conditions at this time are that the flexible 6r7g3 layer of 12b has an I'3 impedance of 45 (X106kg/m23), and a
7) The thickness was set to 3/100 of Mihana m.

Therefore, as you can see from the graph, the IS has higher sensitivity than before.
In order to make a probe with high m-characteristics, the combined sound impedance of the 12a board should be 7 (X106klJ/l 2
S) below, the thickness is 1/4 of the wavelength, and
As the conductive layer 2b, a flat plate made of, for example, copper may be used.

It is also possible to form a flat plate between the backing material on the back and the first sound emitting vibrator in several layers, thereby
More sensitive or broadband ultrasound probes can be made.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention described in detail above, it is possible to provide an ultrasonic probe that has high sensitivity and a wide band, has a large contact area between the transducer and the north pole, and does not require time and effort for electrode extraction and positioning. be able to.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an ultrasonic probe according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an ultrasonic probe according to another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional ultrasonic probe, and FIG. A sectional view of a conventional example of an ultrasonic probe having a flat backing plate on the back side and FIG. 5 are characteristic diagrams showing sensitivity differences. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Ultrasonic sensor, 2... Flexible electrode, 3... Backing material, 4... First matching layer, 5... ... second matching layer, 6 ... conductive adhesive, 7 ... electrode of ultrasonic sensor, 8
...Earth plate, 9...Flat plate interposed between the backing material and the ultrasonic sensor, 10.11...
... Lead, 12 ... Conductive flat plate interposed between the backing material and the ultrasonic @ mover, 13.
·····Insulator. Agent Patent Attorney Noriyuki Chika (and 1 other person) Figure 2” Nikoto-r

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In an ultrasonic probe in which a plurality of block-shaped ultrasonic transducers are fixed on a rectangular parallelepiped backing material via a flat plate, the flat plate is conductive and has flexibility at least on the contact surface with the transducers. An ultrasonic probe made of a material, connected to an electrode of the vibrator, and having a tip extending in the direction of the wall surface of the backing material. (2) The ultrasonic probe according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the flat plate is an integral multiple of 1/4 of the wavelength. (3) The ultrasonic probe according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the flat plate is a flexible member with a conductive layer formed on the flat surface.