Advanced piezoelectric materials for medical ultrasound transducers

A number of materials have recently been developed specifically for advanced ultrasound applications. These are high-density ceramics, fine grain ceramics, high dielectric constant ceramics, and single crystal piezoelectrics. Improvements in properties resulting from these materials range from greater strength and improved machinability to increased transducer element capacitance and coupling. The resulting transducer advances include high frequency arrays (>20MHz), high sensitivity 1.5 and 2-D phased arrays, and broadband (>100%) arrays.