Wideband and efficient polymer transducers using multiple active piezoelectric films

Abstract

Conventional ultrasound imaging transducers suffer from the trade-off between bandwidth and sensitivity, which impedes the optimization of ultrasound image quality. To alleviate this trade-off, a novel non-resonant multilayer PVDF transducer design is suggested. The design allows the overall sensitivity of the PVDF polymer transducer to be significantly improved while retaining PVDF film's wide bandwidth properties. This is achieved by making use of the pulse compression technique in a multilayer assembly. A detailed theoretical model that allows the performance of the multilayer transducer to be predicted was developed. Experimental data were collected by using a wideband PVDF needle hydrophone. A good agreement between the experimental data and computer simulations was obtained.