Focused 20 MHz single-crystal piezocomposite ultrasound array

Lead-based piezoelectric single crystals such as PZN-PT and PMN-PT have been first developed for under water applications by the U.S. Navy. Their outstanding piezoelectric properties (d33 as high as 2000pC/N and k33 ≫ 90%) make them valuable for high-end ultrasound transducers. Thus, they have been successfully used and commercialized in medical field mainly for cardiac imaging (2–5MHz) but manufacturing such a probe is critical since single crystal structures are more sensitive to thermal and mechanical stresses induced by standard micromachining process.