KR101583012B1 - Capacitive ultrasonic transducer - Google Patents

Capacitive ultrasonic transducer Download PDF

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Publication number
KR101583012B1
KR101583012B1 KR1020150036537A KR20150036537A KR101583012B1 KR 101583012 B1 KR101583012 B1 KR 101583012B1 KR 1020150036537 A KR1020150036537 A KR 1020150036537A KR 20150036537 A KR20150036537 A KR 20150036537A KR 101583012 B1 KR101583012 B1 KR 101583012B1
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South Korea
Prior art keywords
ultrasonic
ultrasonic vibration
elastic
ultrasonic transducer
present
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KR1020150036537A
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Korean (ko)
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박관규
박범훈
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한양대학교 산학협력단
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R19/00—Electrostatic transducers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R19/00—Electrostatic transducers
    • H04R19/005—Electrostatic transducers using semiconductor materials
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R2201/00—Details of transducers, loudspeakers or microphones covered by H04R1/00 but not provided for in any of its subgroups
    • H04R2201/003—Mems transducers or their use

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Transducers For Ultrasonic Waves (AREA)

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a capacitive ultrasonic transducer generates a resonant frequency thereof by receiving an electrical pulse. The capacitive ultrasonic transducer comprises: an ultrasonic vibration part which is vibrated according to generation of the resonant frequency to send an ultrasonic wave; and an elastic support part which is formed in a lower portion of the ultrasonic vibration part to provide an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration part.

Description

[0001] CAPACITIVE ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCER [0002]

Embodiments of the present invention relate to an ultrasonic transducer, and more particularly, to a capacitive ultrasonic transducer.

Conventional ultrasonic transducers are divided into a piezoelectric element type and a capacitive ultrasonic transducer. Both methods emit ultrasonic waves corresponding to the resonance frequency when an electric pulse is applied. At the time of receiving ultrasonic waves, the vibration of the element by the external ultrasonic wave is converted into an electric signal, and the amplified signal is used.

Conventional capacitive ultrasonic transducers are expected to replace piezoelectric elements due to their high bandwidth. However, the conventional capacitive ultrasonic transducer has a problem that the bandwidth is good but the transmission / reception efficiency is poor, so that it is difficult to replace the conventional ultrasonic transducer.

Several studies have been carried out to supplement this problem, but there still remain problems such as difficulty in manufacturing, which is not practical. For example, Piston-Shaped CMUT or Post-CMUT has been proposed as a conventional capacitive ultrasonic transducer, but it has not been a good alternative in terms of manufacturing difficulties or efficiency problems.

Therefore, it is urgently required to develop an ultrasonic transducer capable of improving the transmission / reception efficiency while maintaining the advantages of the conventional capacitive ultrasonic transducer.

Related Prior Art Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2013-0022083 (entitled: Ultrasound transducer and its manufacturing method, public date: March 6, 2013) is known.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a capacitance type ultrasonic transducer capable of improving ultrasonic transmission / reception efficiency while maintaining a wide bandwidth.

The problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problem (s), and another problem (s) not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

A capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an ultrasonic vibration unit generating an oscillation frequency of the ultrasonic transducer in response to an electrical pulse and oscillating in response to generation of the resonance frequency, And an elastic receiving portion formed at a lower portion of the ultrasonic vibration portion to provide an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration portion.

The ultrasonic vibrator may be formed in a flat plate shape.

The ultrasonic vibration unit may be formed in at least one shape of a circle, an ellipse, a triangle, a square, or a polygon.

The elastic supporter may be formed of a material having Young's modulus lower than that of the ultrasonic vibrator.

The ultrasonic vibrator may be formed of a silicon material, and the elastic supporter may be formed of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material.

The elastic receiving portion may be formed on the lower edge of the ultrasonic vibrating portion to have an annular shape.

The elastic supporter may be formed at an intersection of the lower portion of the ultrasonic vibrator to have an X shape.

The ultrasonic generator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a capacitive ultrasonic transducer having at least one of the above-described components.

The details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, by providing the elastic force of the elastic receiving portion, the ultrasonic vibrating portion can be made to vibrate while keeping the original flat state.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, by increasing the volume of pushing the moving distance of the center of the flat plate compared to the conventional ultrasonic transducer, the pressure of the ultrasonic vibrating unit can be increased to improve the ultrasonic transmission / reception efficiency while maintaining a wide non- .

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the elastic receiving portion is formed of a material having a Young's modulus lower than that of the ultrasonic vibrating portion, so that the ultrasonic vibrating portion moves up and down in a state in which the ultrasonic vibrating portion maintains its original shape through the elastic force of the elastic receiving portion, .

1 and 2 are perspective views of a capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a side cross-sectional view of a capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a view for explaining the motion for generating vibration of the capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to an embodiment of the present invention in detail.
5 is a perspective view of a capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The advantages and / or features of the present invention, and how to accomplish them, will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but is capable of many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, To fully disclose the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are perspective views of a capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 3, a capacitive ultrasonic transducer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an ultrasonic vibration unit 110 and an elastic receiving unit 120.

The ultrasonic vibration unit 110 receives an electric pulse to generate its own resonance frequency, and oscillates according to generation of the resonance frequency to emit ultrasonic waves.

The ultrasonic vibration unit 110 may be formed in a flat plate shape. In addition, the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 may be formed in various shapes.

For example, the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 may be formed in a circular shape as shown in the drawing, or may be formed in an elliptical shape, a triangular shape, a rectangular shape, a polygonal shape, or the like.

The ultrasonic vibration unit 110 may receive an ultrasonic signal. The ultrasonic vibration unit 110 may generate ultrasonic vibration corresponding to the received ultrasonic signal. The generated ultrasonic vibration can be converted into an electric signal by the ultrasonic generator including the capacitive ultrasonic transducer 100.

For reference, the ultrasonic generator transmits the electric signal to a medical device such as an endoscope, a catheter, and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and the medical device can output an ultrasound image or the like using the electric signal.

The elastic receiving portion 120 is formed at a lower portion of the ultrasonic vibration portion 110. Specifically, the elastic receiving portion 120 may be formed at the lower edge of the ultrasonic vibration portion 110 and may have an annular shape.

The elastic receiving part 120 provides an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration part 110. In other words, the elastic receiving part 120 serves as a support for supporting the ultrasonic vibration part 110 and can provide an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration part 110 as a spring.

For this, the elastic receiving portion 120 may be formed of a material having an elastic force. The elastic supporter 120 may provide an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 so that the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 generates vibration energy when an electrical pulse is applied to the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 have.

That is, the elastic receiving part 120 may provide an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration part 110 so that the ultrasonic vibration part 110 may entirely perform a piston motion to vibrate.

At this time, the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 can vibrate while maintaining its original shape without deformation. Therefore, the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 can move in a flat state of the entire flat plate in the elastic force acting direction (vertical direction) of the elastic receiving unit 120.

Accordingly, according to the embodiment of the present invention, since the volume of pushing is greater than the moving distance of the center of the flat plate compared to the conventional ultrasonic transducer, the pressure of the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 can be increased to improve the ultrasonic transmission / .

The elastic receiving portion 120 may be formed of a material having a lower Young's modulus than the ultrasonic vibration portion 110. For example, the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 may be formed of a silicon material. In this case, the elastic receiving unit 120 may be formed of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material having a Young's modulus lower than that of the silicon material .

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the elastic receiving portion 120 is formed of a material having a Young's modulus lower than that of the ultrasonic vibration portion 110, so that the ultrasonic vibration portion 110, The piston 110 moves up and down by the piston movement in a state in which the piston 110 maintains its original shape, thereby generating vibration.

Therefore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, by further increasing the volume of pushing against the moving distance of the center of the plate compared to the conventional ultrasonic transducer, the pressure of the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 is further increased, ) And the ultrasonic transmission / reception efficiency can be further improved.

4 is a view for explaining the motion for generating vibration of the capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to an embodiment of the present invention in detail.

Referring to FIG. 4, in one embodiment of the present invention, the elastic receiving portion 120 serving as a base of the ultrasonic vibration portion 110 corresponding to the flat plate is tensioned and compressed and moved by moving it upward and downward. That is, the elastic receiving part 120 provides the elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration part 110.

The ultrasonic vibration unit 110 vibrates while maintaining the original shape of the flat plate in accordance with the movement of the elastic receiving unit 120. Since the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 generates vibration by moving the flat plate in a flat state, the size of the pushing force of the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 is larger than that of the conventional ultrasonic transducer.

Accordingly, the center pressure of the ultrasonic vibration unit 110 increases, which increases the bandwidth and transmit / receive efficiency of the capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Table 1 is a table comparing a conventional ultrasonic transducer with a capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 112015025794973-pat00001

Referring to Table 1, Models 1, 2, 3 and 4 represent conventional ultrasonic transducers of different sizes, and the Soft-Post model represents an ultrasonic transducer according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In Table 1, resonance frequencies of all models are modeled to exist in the vicinity of 10 MHz, and four types of models (thickness 0.5 μm, 1.0 μm, 1.3 μm, and 2.0 μm) having the same resonance frequency and the soft- Were compared.

In particular, the Soft-Post model and Model 3 are very similar in bandwidth and resonant frequency. As a result of the comparison between the two models, the ratio of the volume of the Soft-Post model is 75.86% and the volume ratio of the model 3 is 31.49% . Therefore, it can be seen that the volume ratio of the Soft-Post model is higher than that of the model 3 by 45%.

For reference, the equation for calculating the volume ratio (R of V) of the ultrasonic transducer is as follows.

Figure 112015025794973-pat00002

5 is a perspective view of a capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

5, a capacitive ultrasonic transducer 500 according to another embodiment of the present invention may include an ultrasonic vibration unit 510 and an elastic supporter 520. Referring to FIG.

The ultrasonic vibration unit 510 receives an electric pulse to generate its own resonance frequency, and oscillates according to the generation of the resonance frequency to emit ultrasonic waves.

The ultrasonic vibration unit 510 may be formed in a flat plate shape. In addition, the ultrasonic vibration unit 510 may be formed in various shapes.

For example, the ultrasonic vibration unit 510 may be formed in a circular shape as shown in the drawing, or may be formed in an elliptical shape, a triangular shape, a rectangular shape, a polygonal shape, or the like.

The ultrasonic vibration unit 510 may receive an ultrasonic signal. The ultrasonic vibration unit 510 may generate ultrasonic vibration corresponding to the received ultrasonic signal. The ultrasonic vibration thus generated can be converted into an electric signal by the ultrasonic generator including the capacitive ultrasonic transducer (500).

For reference, the ultrasonic generator transmits the electric signal to a medical device such as an endoscope, a catheter, and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and the medical device can output an ultrasound image or the like using the electric signal.

The elastic supporter 520 is formed below the ultrasonic vibrator 510. Specifically, the elastic receiving portion 520 may be formed to intersect the lower portion of the ultrasonic vibration portion 510 to have an X shape.

In the embodiments of the present invention, the elastic receiving portion 520 is circular (see FIG. 1) or limited to the X-shaped portion. However, the present invention is not limited thereto.

The elastic supporter 520 provides an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibrator 510. That is, the elastic receiving part 520 may serve as a spring for supporting the ultrasonic vibration part 510 and may provide an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration part 510.

For this purpose, the elastic receiving portion 520 may be formed of a material having an elastic force. The elastic supporter 520 may provide an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration unit 510 so that the ultrasonic vibration unit 510 generates vibration energy when the ultrasonic vibration unit 510 is irradiated with an electrical pulse. have.

That is, the elastic supporter 520 may provide an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration unit 510 so that the ultrasonic vibration unit 510 may move as a whole piston to vibrate.

At this time, the ultrasonic vibration unit 510 can vibrate while maintaining its original shape without deformation. Therefore, the ultrasonic vibration part 510 can move in a flat state as a whole of the flat plate in the direction of the elastic force acting on the elastic receiving part 520 (vertical direction).

Accordingly, according to the embodiment of the present invention, since the volume of pushing the center of the plate is larger than the moving distance of the center of the plate, compared to the conventional ultrasonic transducer, the pressure of the ultrasonic vibration unit 510 can be increased to improve the ultrasonic transmission / .

The elastic supporter 520 may be formed of a material having a Young's modulus lower than that of the ultrasonic vibrator 510. For example, the supersonic vibration unit 510 may be formed of a silicon material. In this case, the elastic supporter 520 may be formed of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material having a lower Young's modulus than the silicon material .

As described above, according to another embodiment of the present invention, the elastic supporter 520 is formed of a material having a Young's modulus lower than that of the ultrasonic vibrator 510, The piston 510 can move up and down by the piston movement while maintaining its original shape, thereby generating vibration.

Therefore, according to another embodiment of the present invention, by further increasing the volume of pushing against the movement distance of the center of the plate compared to the conventional ultrasonic transducer, the pressure of the ultrasonic vibration part 510 is further increased, ) And the ultrasonic transmission / reception efficiency can be further improved.

Meanwhile, the capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to the embodiments of the present invention can be applied to an ultrasonic generator used at the end of a micro-medical device such as an endoscope or a catheter, and further, the use of the existing ultrasonic device, The ultrasonic wave generating device can be applied to an ultrasonic wave generating device used in a space.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined by the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, Modification is possible. Accordingly, the spirit of the present invention should be understood only in accordance with the following claims, and all equivalents or equivalent variations thereof are included in the scope of the present invention.

100, 500: Capacitive Ultrasonic Transducer
110, 510: Ultrasonic vibration section
120, 520: elastic restraining part

Claims (8)

An ultrasonic vibrator for generating an oscillation frequency of the resonance frequency by generating an oscillation frequency of the resonance frequency, And
And an elastic support part (22) formed at a lower portion of the ultrasonic vibration part (22) to provide an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration part
Lt; / RTI >
The elastic receiving portion
And a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material having a lower Young's modulus than the ultrasonic vibration portion,
The ultrasonic vibration unit
Wherein the first electrode is formed of a silicon material.
The method according to claim 1,
The ultrasonic vibration unit
Wherein the first electrode is formed in a flat plate shape.
3. The method of claim 2,
The ultrasonic vibration unit
Wherein the first electrode is formed in at least one shape of a circle, an ellipse, a triangle, a rectangle, or a polygon.
delete delete An ultrasonic vibrator for generating an oscillation frequency of the resonance frequency by generating an oscillation frequency of the resonance frequency, And
And an elastic support part (22) formed at a lower portion of the ultrasonic vibration part (22) to provide an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration part
Lt; / RTI >
The elastic receiving portion
Wherein the ultrasonic transducer is formed at a lower edge of the ultrasonic vibration part and has an annular shape.
An ultrasonic vibrator for generating an oscillation frequency of the resonance frequency by generating an oscillation frequency of the resonance frequency, And
And an elastic support part (22) formed at a lower portion of the ultrasonic vibration part (22) to provide an elastic force to the ultrasonic vibration part
Lt; / RTI >
The elastic receiving portion
Wherein the ultrasonic transducer is formed to intersect the lower portion of the ultrasonic vibration portion and has an X shape.
An ultrasonic generator comprising the capacitive ultrasonic transducer according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and 6 to 7.
KR1020150036537A 2015-03-17 2015-03-17 Capacitive ultrasonic transducer KR101583012B1 (en)

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Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR20200110890A (en) 2019-03-18 2020-09-28 한양대학교 산학협력단 Measurement system for mechanical property based on ultrasonic-transducer of ring array
KR20200110891A (en) 2019-03-18 2020-09-28 한양대학교 산학협력단 Measurement system for mechanical property based on ultrasonic-transducer of pzt array

Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP2012257058A (en) * 2011-06-08 2012-12-27 Olympus Medical Systems Corp Ultrasonic vibrator and ultrasonic diagnostic device

Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP2012257058A (en) * 2011-06-08 2012-12-27 Olympus Medical Systems Corp Ultrasonic vibrator and ultrasonic diagnostic device

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR20200110890A (en) 2019-03-18 2020-09-28 한양대학교 산학협력단 Measurement system for mechanical property based on ultrasonic-transducer of ring array
KR20200110891A (en) 2019-03-18 2020-09-28 한양대학교 산학협력단 Measurement system for mechanical property based on ultrasonic-transducer of pzt array

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