Matching layers configured for use with ultrasound transducers are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a transducer stack can include a capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT), an acoustic lens, and a matching layer therebetween. The matching layer can be made from a compliant material (e.g. an elastomer and/or an liquid) and configured for use with CMUTs. The matching layer can include a bottom surface overlying a top surface of the transducer and a top surface underlying a bottom surface of the lens.

Membrane device comprising a support, a membrane suspended on the support, a first actuator in contact with the membrane designed to apply a force on the membrane, a second actuator in contact with the membrane designed to apply a force on the membrane, means of determining the position of the membrane relative to the support and control means of the first and second actuators, said control means applying a deformation signal to one of the first and second actuators to deform the membrane and applying a control signal to the other of the first and second actuators to control displacement of the membrane, application of the control signal being determined by the membrane position.

The present disclosure provides a method of fabricating an ultrasound transducer. A substrate having a first side and a second side opposite the first side is provided. A bottom electrode is formed over the first side of the substrate. A piezoelectric element is formed over the bottom electrode. The piezoelectric element has a chamfered sidewall. A top electrode is formed over the piezoelectric element. A step metal element is formed over a portion of the top electrode proximate to the chamfered sidewall of the piezoelectric element.

The invention relates to a dielectric transducer structure comprising a body of elastomeric material that is provided with an electrode arrangement on each of two boundary surfaces lying oppositely to one another. At least one boundary surface comprises a corrugated area that comprises heights and depths. The aim of the invention is to improve the compliance to elastic deformations of the dielectric transducer structure. To this end, the heights and depths are arranged in both perpendicular directions of the boundary surface.

An electromechanical polymer (EMP) transducer may include (a) one or more EMP layers each having a first operating characteristic; and (b) one or more EMP layers each having a second operating characteristic different from the first operating characteristic. The EMP transducer may include at least two EMP layers that are activated independently, and one or more EMP layers being configured to be a sensing layer. The sensing layer may sensitive to one or both of the operating characteristics (e.g., temperature, strain, pressure and their respective rates of change). Other operating characteristic may include resin type, modulus, film thicknesses, degrees of deformations, operating temperature ranges, a stretching ratio of the EMP layers, metallization patterns of electrodes, arrangements of active and inactive EMP layers, arrangements of irradiated EMP layers, arrangements of EMP layers acting as sensors, and arrangements of inactive layers of various degrees of stiffness.

According to one embodiment, an ultrasonic probe includes a single crystal piezoelectric body with first and second planes facing each other and having a crystal orientation of [100], first and second electrodes on the respective first and second plane of the piezoelectric body, an acoustic matching layer on the first electrode, and a backing member under the second electrode, wherein the piezoelectric body is polarized along a first direction passing through the piezoelectric body and first and second electrodes, a fracture surface of the piezoelectric body that includes the first direction has a multilayer shape along one of the first and second electrodes, and a thickness of each layer of the multilayer shape is not less than 0.5 ?m and not more than 5 ?m.

A piezoelectric element includes: an upper electrode having acoustic transparency; a lower electrode; and a diaphragm disposed between the upper electrode and the lower electrode and configured of a mesoporous piezoelectric thin film. The upper electrode, the lower electrode, and the diaphragm are electrically insulated from one another.

A detecting device includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducers that transmit and receive ultrasonic waves. The detecting device includes a laminate, and a frame layer stacked on at least one face of a first face of the laminate and a second face opposite the first face. The laminate includes a flexible substrate, a circuit layer including a plurality of first electrodes and at least one second electrode, the circuit layer being stacked on the flexible substrate, and a piezoelectric layer stacked on the circuit layer. One of the ultrasonic transducers includes at least one of the first electrodes that is in contact with the piezoelectric layer, and at least one of the second electrodes that is in contact with the piezoelectric layer, and the frame layer has a cavity at a position that overlaps the first electrode in plan view.

Disclosed are nanomechanical devices whose functioning is related to bistability, spontaneous vibrations, and/or stochastic resonance of nanoscale oligomeric structures and/or their nanoscale compositions. Spring-type oligomeric machines are disclosed as well as their use in energy harvesting.

A piezoelectric device includes a substrate having opening portions, a vibrating plate provided to overlap with the substrate and having a plurality of vibrating regions overlapping with the opening portions in a plan view as seen from a thickness direction of the substrate, piezoelectric elements provided in the vibrating regions, and bypass wires provided outside of the vibrating regions of the vibrating plate and electrically coupled to the plurality of piezoelectric elements, wherein slits penetrating the bypass wires in the thickness direction are provided in the bypass wires.