FOCUSED HIGH FREQUENCY ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCERS

FOR MINIMALLY INVASIVE IMAGING

Aaron Fleischman, Rushabh Modi, Anuja Nair, Geoffrey Lockwood, Shuvo Roy
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation
9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44195

ABSTRACT sound intensity in the imaging volume, which limits

Spherically focused, high frequency (30-50 MHz) signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR). This paper describes the
ultrasonic imaging transducers are fabricated by using a fabrication and characterization of micromachined high
piezoelectric polymer film and membrane deflection frequency (30-50 MHz) focused polymer ultrasonic
technique that is compatible with CMOS circuit transducers that can be integrated with electronics and can
fabrication. Micromachined ultrasonic transducers with be miniaturized to <1mm3 for catheter mounting.
0.5-2.0 mm-diameter apertures and f-numbers ranging
from 1.3-4.0 are fabricated and characterized. The POLYMER TRANSDUCERS
transducers exhibit focused radiation patterns with 50 µm Polymer-based piezoelectric materials such as
axial resolution and bandwidths of 80-100% around polyvinylidene diflouride (PVDF) and its copolymers can
center frequency values. Tissue imaging capabilities of enable high frequency, large bandwidth, ultrasonic
the micromachined ultrasonic transducers are transducers and can be readily shaped into spherically
demonstrated through successful imaging of human focused radiators for high resolution images [3, 4].
cadaveric aorta. However, small polymer transducers usually require a
high impedance preamplifier in close physical proximity
INTRODUCTION to reduce signal degradation in the cable [5]. Previous
Minimally invasive medical procedures (such as balloon work in the development of ultrasonic transducers
angioplasty) are becoming increasingly popular to treat a include: integration of polymer ultrasonic transducers
variety of diseases. In some cases, minimally invasive with electronics [6, 7]; micromachined Si to improve
procedures are the only therapeutic option as conventional transducer performance [8]; and dome shaped
approaches may cause irreparable harm to the patient. In micromachined Si diaphragms for transducers [9]. This
cases where conventional surgical approaches exist, paper demonstrates the successful operation of
minimally invasive procedures provide many advantages, mechanically focused miniature high frequency ultrasonic
including reduced post-operative pain, shorter hospital transducers created using micromachining techniques that
stays, faster healing, and reduced scarring. A significant are IC compatible and scalable to to create transducers of
disadvantage for the surgeon performing a minimally arbitrary aperture and focus.
invasive procedure is the lack of the direct sensory
feedback, of touch-and-feel as well as visualization that DEVICE FABRICATION
the conventional approaches allow. High frequency (30– Cross-sectional and plan schematic views of the
100 MHz) ultrasonic imaging technology is an approach transducer are shown in Figure 1. The plan view depicts
that can be used to overcome some of these limitations, as the concept for integrating the transducer with electronics,
it can provide microscopic resolution of surface and
subsurface tissue structures as well as identification of
physiological landmarks. Minimally invasive procedures
used to treat coronary artery disease have used O
intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) images (30–45 MHz) for r r
general navigation and differentiation of diseased and A
healthy tissue as well as deployment and placement d
evaluation of intracoronary stents [1, 2].

A primary limitation in conventional ultrasonic imaging Si Epoxy

technology for minimally invasive procedures is the Si
relatively poor image quality provided by current
(a) Polymer (b)
unfocused transducers. These devices are usually slivers
of lead zirconium titanate (PZT) that are chipped Figure 1. (a) Cross-sectional view of spherically focused
manually from large pieces of PZT. Consequently, there ultrasonic transducer showing pertinent geometry.
are wide variances in performance between transducers, (b) Plan view depicting the approach for integrating a
and hence, catheter images. The unfocused nature of the preamplifier with the transducer.
transducers result in poor lateral resolution and reduced

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 while the cross-sectional view shows the critical AVB1–3-C monocycle generator, Avtech Electrosystems,
geometries of the deformed polymer membrane. The f- Ogdensburg NY, USA) to excite the transducer,
number of the device is defined to be r/A, where r is the piezoelectric polymer transducer, amplification circuitry,
radius of curvature and A is the diameter of the aperture. and a digitizing oscilloscope (Agilent 54835A, Agilent
The focal point of transducer is at point O. From the Technologies, Englewood CO, USA) to observe the
geometry, it is apparent that changing the center of signal and collect data. The testing apparatus utilizes two
deflection for a given aperture is sufficient to change the sets of crossed diode bridges: (1) the limiter to protect the
radius of curvature of the deformed membrane, which
then changes the f-number. Circular polymer membranes
with clamped boundaries deform spherically under
uniformly applied differential pressure. The center
deflection is a function of membrane geometry, materials
properties, and differential pressure, and is described
by [10]:
C C f(ν )t E 3
P = 21 ı o d + 2 4 d (1)
a a 1− ν
where P is differential pressure, a is radius of the
membrane (A/2), E is the Young’s modulus, Ȟ is the
Poisson ratio, ıo is the residual stress, d is the center
deflection, f(ν) is a dimensionless function, t is the
membrane thickness, and C1 and C2 are geometrically
dependant constants. Thus, the f-number for arbitrarily
sized apertures can be controlled by change in air Glass Beaker
pressure. Figure 3. Diagram of test setup used to characterize
the ultrasonic transducer and obtain images.
Freestanding 9 µm-thick PVDF films with 200 nm-thick
gold coating on one side are used as the piezoelectric
polymer material. Laser micromachining is used to form 20
Amplitude (mV)

0.5-2.0 mm-diameter apertures in a Si wafer, which is

subsequently oxidized thermally to grow a 1.5 µm–thick 10
oxide. The wafer is then diced into 1 cm-wide square die
to create the substrates for the transducers. Alternatively, 0
transducers can be fabricated using spun-on PVDF-TrFe
(a PVDF copolymer) films [7] and deep reactive ion
etching (DRIE). The die with the suspended polymer film -10
is inverted onto a jig and pressure is used to deform the
film as shown in Figure 2. Afterwards, a conductive -20
epoxy is placed in the hole to act as the backside contact 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8
and sound absorbing backing as well as fix the deformed µ s)
Time (µ
shape of the polymer film upon curing. A fine gauge wire
is inserted into the epoxy prior to curing to facilitate Figure 4. Pulse echo response of transducer shows
subsequent circuit connections. minimal ringing. Time is referenced from the
application of the excitation pulse.
DEVICE CHARACTERIZATION
Power Spectra (dB)

A block diagram of the testing apparatus is shown in

0
Figure 3. The apparatus consists of a pulser (Avtech
-10
-20
Si Epoxy
-30
Polymer -40
O-Ring 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Jig Air Inlet Frequency (MHz)

Figure 2. Schematic of pressure jig used to fabricate Figure 5. Pulse power spectrum of the transducer
the ultrasonic transducers from Figure 4 showing a center frequency of ~32 MHz
and a 6 dB bandwidth of ~100%.

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 preamplifier from the high voltage pulses (≈ 50 Vpp) and 0.30
reduce the preamplifier saturation time; and (2) the
expander to reduce noise contribution from the pulser by 0.25

Amplitude (V)
isolating it from rest of the apparatus between pulses. 0.20
Transducer characterization experiments were performed
0.15
using the pulse echo mode, which is the standard
operational mode for ultrasonic imaging. In the pulse 0.10
echo mode, the transducer emits an ultrasonic pulse and 0.05
the same transducer is also used to detect the reflected
0.00
pulse. Different configurations of the amplification
circuitry were implemented as necessitated by the 5.40 5.50 5.60 5.70
µs)
Time (µ
corresponding characterization experiment.
Figure 7. Hilbert transform of pulse echo response
The transducers were excited by 40 MHz, 50Vpp with a value of 33ns at FWHM which gives value of
monocycle pulses at a 2 kHz repetition rate in a beaker of 50 µm axial resolution.
deionized (DI) water to obtain pulse echo responses. The
bottom of the glass beaker provided the reflecting surface. apertures and center deflections of 172, 123 and 102 µm,
No amplification circuitry was used to minimize parasitic respectively. These center deflections should result in f-
bandwidth components. A typical pulse echo response is numbers of 1.50, 2.00, and 2.45 respectively, which are in
shown in Figure 4. The pulse echo exhibits minimal good agreement with the values of 1.47, 2.08, and 2.41,
ringing, which indicates a relatively large bandwidth. The which are derived from the axial response measurements.
corresponding power spectrum obtained via FFT of the All subsequent characterization results are presented for
pulse echo response is shown in Figure 5. This transducer the transducer with the f-number of 2.08
has a center frequency of ~32 MHz and a 6 dB bandwidth
of ~100%. Other transducers that were fabricated using The axial resolution of the transducer can be determined
the same technique and material exhibited center from the full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) of the
frequencies of 30-45 MHz and 6 dB bandwidths of 80- pulse echo envelope, which is obtained via a Hilbert
110%. The variations in characteristics of the various transform of the pulse echo response as shown in Figure
transducers is attributed to non-uniformity in polymer 7. The FWHM has a value of 33 ns, which results in an
film thickness and epoxy curing. axial resolution of 50 µm, assuming sound velocity of
1500m/s in water. The lateral resolution of the transducer
The axial responses of the transducers were characterized can be estimated from the following expression [4]:
by exciting the transducers as described previously, but Resolution = λ(f number )
with an additional 30 dB of amplification in the circuit. where λ is the ultrasound wavelength relative to (2) the
The transducer was displaced relative to the bottom of the center frequency. The center frequency of the transducer
glass beaker and the peak-to-peak voltage of the is ~40 MHz, which results in a lateral resolution ~38 µm.
corresponding pulse echo response was recorded. Figure 6
shows the results for 3 transducers with 2 mm-diameter TISSUE IMAGING
Tissue is less echogenic than glass, and consequently,
additional amplification is required to obtain satisfactory
f = 1.47 f = 2.08 f = 2.41
images. The transducer was mounted onto a PC board
1.2
Normalized Amplitue

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2
0 2 4 6 8
Distance (mm)
Figure 8. Front (a) and back view (b) of a transducer
mounted on a printed circuit board. The transducer is
Figure 6. Normalized axial responses of transducers the spherical shape in the center of the 1 cm-wide
showing that the focal points vary with f-number. square die shown in (a). The backside of the PC
Error bars at peaks indicate the predicted focal points board with the amplifier and associated biasing
based upon the measured center deflections and components is shown in (b).
associated error of ± 5 µm.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Dr. Geoffrey Vince and
Dr. Jim Talman of The Cleveland Clinic Foundation for
helpful discussions. This work was supported by the
Glennan Microsystems Initiative.

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