A touch feedback and sensing device includes a circuit board, a piezoelectric ceramic actuator on the circuit board; and at least one strain sensor on the circuit board. The piezoelectric ceramic actuator includes a piezoelectric ceramic block, a cathode and an anode on the piezoelectric ceramic block. Different voltages are applied to the cathode and the anode to vibrate the piezoelectric ceramic block. The circuit board vibrates with vibration of the piezoelectric ceramic block. The at least one strain sensor is configured to detect and monitor vibration of the circuit board.

A transducer comprising: at least one piezoelectric layer; a first patterned conductive layer that is patterned with a first opening; a second patterned conductive layer that is patterned with a second opening; wherein at least one piezoelectric layer is between the first and the second patterned conductive layers in a stack; and wherein a position of the first opening is staggered relative to a position of the second opening in the stack to mitigate an occurrence of crack propagation through the layers.

A piezoelectric element includes a piezoelectric element body including a first principal surface and a second principal surface opposing each other, and a plurality of external electrodes disposed on the first principal surface. A vibration member includes a third principal surface opposing the second principal surface. The piezoelectric element is joined to the third principal surface. A wiring member is electrically connected to the piezoelectric element. The wiring member includes a region located on the plurality of external electrodes and joined to the plurality of external electrodes. The region of the wiring member monolithically covers the plurality of external electrodes when viewed from a direction orthogonal to the first principal surface.

Ultrasound devices including piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs) are described. Frequency tunable PMUT arrays are provided. The PMUTs may be formed on the same substrate or a different substrate than an integrated circuit substrate. The PMUTs may be formed in a variety of ways and from various suitable piezoelectric materials.

An ultrasound probe including: a circuit substrate (23) having a recess in a first region on the lower surface side; a buffer layer (400) composed of an insulating material on a second region different from the first region of circuit substrate (23); and an element array layer (22) including a first piezoelectric element (100) for ultrasound transmission formed in the first region of the circuit substrate (23) without the buffer layer (400), and a second piezoelectric element (200) for ultrasound reception formed in the second region of the circuit substrate (23) on the buffer layer (400). The first piezoelectric element (100) vibrates in a flexural vibration mode on the circuit substrate (23), and the second piezoelectric element (200) vibrates in a thickness vibration mode on the circuit substrate (23).

An ultrasonic actuator with increased radiating surface is presented. The increased radiating surface is provided by a plurality of piezoelectric stacks that are each compressed by action of a respective bolt against a common backing structure of the actuator. According to one aspect, each of the stacks includes a plurality of stacked piezoelectric rings with the respective bolt arranged through the central opening of the rings. According to another aspect, one or both of the backing structure and the horn of the actuator include tuning grooves and/or tuning slots to produce amplitude uniformity of displacement through the actuator. According to another aspect, the radiating surface has a symmetrical shape about an axial direction of the actuator with a lateral dimension that is in a range between one quarter and one half of the wavelength of operation of the actuator.

An ultrasonic device includes a substrate having a first opening, a second opening and a wall part partitioning the first opening and the second opening; a first vibration film and a second vibration film which close the first opening and the second opening respectively; a first piezoelectric element and a second piezoelectric element which are formed on surfaces of the first vibration film and the second vibration film opposite to the substrate; an acoustic matching layer which is disposed within the first opening and the second opening so as to come into contact with the first vibration film and the second vibration film.

A method for generating a composite image having an increased image pixel density by an array of ultrasonic transducers having a given spatial density is provided. The method comprises capturing a first set of pixels at an ultrasonic sensor using a first beamforming pattern, wherein the first beamforming pattern comprises a first pattern of ultrasonic transducers of the ultrasonic sensor. The method further comprises capturing a second set of pixels at the ultrasonic sensor using a second beamforming pattern, wherein the second beamforming pattern comprises a second pattern of ultrasonic transducers. The first beamforming pattern and the second beamforming pattern are different. Pixels of the second set of pixels correspond to positions between pixels of the first set of pixels. The method additionally comprises combining the first and second sets of pixels to form the composite image. An electronic device and a method of generating an image of a fingerprint are also provided.

A sonic device in an embodiment includes a sonic transducer unit and a sonic propagation unit. The sonic transducer unit performs at least one of transmitting and receiving a sonic wave, and has a sonic function surface to configure at least one of a wave transmitting surface and a wave receiving surface. The sonic propagation unit includes: a substrate having a pair of electrodes; an electroadhesive element expressing body including a resin crosslinked body arranged on the substrate, and particles dispersed in the resin crosslinked body; and a power supply to apply voltage to the pair of electrodes. The sonic propagation unit is provided on the sonic function surface of the sonic transducer unit, and the electroadhesive element expressing body in the sonic propagation unit comes into contact with a test object.

According to one embodiment, an ultrasonic device includes an ultrasonic transmitter. The ultrasonic transmitter includes a first element, a second element, and a driver. The first element is flexing-vibratable at a first resonant frequency. The second element is flexing-vibratable at a second resonant frequency different from the first resonant frequency. The driver is configured to supply a first electrical signal to the first element and to supply a second electrical signal to the second element. The first electrical signal includes a first signal having the first resonant frequency. The second electrical signal includes a second signal having the second resonant frequency.