An apparatus and system for deploying an acoustic sensor are disclosed. In some embodiments, an acoustic sensor includes a transducer comprising a piezoelectric material layer having a front side from which the transducer is configured to transmit acoustic sensing signals and an opposing back side. A backing material layer comprising an acoustic damping material is coupled at a front side to the back side of the piezoelectric material layer. An acoustic reflector such as may comprise a cavity containing gaseous or liquid fluid is disposed between the front side and a back side of the backing material layer.

An ultrasonic device according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a substrate in which an opening section piercing through the substrate in a thickness direction is provided, a vibration plate provided on the substrate to close the opening section, a piezoelectric element provided in a position corresponding to the opening section on a first surface at the opposite side of the substrate side of the vibration plate, and an elastic layer provided in contact with a second surface at the substrate side of the vibration plate at the inner side of the opening section of the substrate. The elastic layer includes a curved surface recessed to the vibration plate side at the opposite side of the vibration plate side.

A solid mount resonator sensor has a substrate. An anti-reflector stack is disposed proximate the substrate. The anti-reflector stack includes one or more acoustic interference layers. A first electrode is disposed proximate the anti-reflector stack. A second electrode having a first surface facing towards the first electrode and an opposing second surface facing away from the first electrode. A substantially quarter-wave piezoelectric material layer is disposed between the first and second electrodes.

A transducer assembly operable to transmit ultrasonic energy in a desired direction towards a zone adapted to be acoustically coupled to an object or area of interest is disclosed which has a transducer layer, a backing material disposed behind the transducer layer with respect to the desired direction, and a back-matching layer disposed between the transducer layer and the backing material to reflect towards the transducer layer part of the ultrasonic energy directed from the transducer layer to the backing material. The backing layer has an acoustic impedance higher than the acoustic impedance of the back-matching layer. The back-matching material has an impedance less than the impedance of the transducer layer and the transducer layer has a thickness greater than a ¼ of the wavelength of the ultrasound waves the assembly is configured to generate. A process for manufacturing a transducer assembly is also disclosed.

An ultrasound transducer assembly that includes a piezoelectric layer configured to resonate and generate ultrasound signals around a predetermined ultrasound frequency in which the piezoelectric layer has a width to thickness ratio of at least about 0.6. A conductive matching layer is connected to the top surface of the piezoelectric layer to condition the ultrasound transducer for broad frequency bandwidth operation. A conductive backing layer is connected to the bottom surface of the piezoelectric layer. The ultrasound transducer assembly further includes a rigid body over which the conductive backing layer is positioned, the rigid body assembled for encompassing a central longitudinal axis of a catheter body. A signal and ground electrode may form a metallic layer over the top of or below each of the piezoelectric layers. Electrical waveguides may be connected to corresponding signal and ground electrodes of the transducers.

An electronic device includes a substrate layer having a front surface and a back surface opposite the front surface, a plurality of ultrasonic transducers formed on the front surface of the substrate layer, wherein the plurality of ultrasonic transducers generate backward waves during operation, the backward waves propagating through the substrate layer, and a plurality of substrate structures formed within the back surface of the substrate layer, the plurality of substrate structures configured to modify the backward waves during the operation.

A system, method, and apparatus for reducing ringing effects associated with a transducer comprises a transducer body, a transducer cap, a piezoelectric element formed in the cap, and a damping material formed around the piezoelectric element wherein the damping material suppresses a ringing effect associated with the transducer, while an O-ring is used together with damping material to support high pressure applications up to 230 bars.

A scanning apparatus for imaging an object, comprising an ultrasound transducer comprising a transmitter configured to transmit ultrasound signals in a first direction towards an object and a receiver configured to receive reflected ultrasound signals from an object; and a backing block for absorbing ultrasound signals, located adjacent the transducer along a second direction opposite to the first direction; the backing block comprising an inner surface facing the transducer, the inner surface comprising a non-planar feature configured to increase the absorption of ultrasound signals by the backing block.

Disclosed herein is a probe including: an acoustic module including a piezoelectric layer configured to generate ultrasonic waves, a matching layer configured to reduce a difference in acoustic impedance between the piezoelectric layer and an object, and a backing layer configured to absorb ultrasonic waves generated by the piezoelectric layer and transmitted backward from the piezoelectric layer; a plurality of attenuation layers provided at both edges of the upper surface of the acoustic module, and configured to attenuate ultrasonic waves generated by the acoustic module; and a lens layer disposed to cover the upper surfaces of the attenuation layers, and configured to focus ultrasonic waves transmitted forward from the piezoelectric layer at a predetermined point.

An ultrasonic transducer, including a piezoelectric element with physical characteristics of radial resonant frequencies and thickness resonant frequencies, and with an upper surface and a lower surface opposite to each other through the piezoelectric element and a lateral surface connecting the upper surface and the lower surface, and an acoustic matching layer set on the upper surface of the piezoelectric element and having a first resonant matching part and a second resonant matching part, wherein a thickness of the first resonant matching part in a direction perpendicular to the upper surface is greater than a thickness of the second resonant matching part in the direction, and the thickness of the first resonant matching part matches one radial resonant frequency of the piezoelectric element and the thickness of the second resonant matching part matches another radial resonant frequency or one of the thickness resonant frequency of the piezoelectric element.