Micromachined PIN-PMN-PT crystal composite transducer for high-frequency intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging

Abstract

In this paper, we report the use of micromachined PbIn1/2Nb1/2O3–PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3–PbTiO3 (PIN-PMN-PT) single crystal 1–3 composite material for intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging application. The effective electromechanical coupling coefficient kt(eff) of the composite was measured to be 0.75 to 0.78. Acoustic impedance was estimated to be 20 MRayl. Based on the composite, needle-type and flexible-type IVUS transducers were fabricated. The composite transducer achieved an 86% bandwidth at the center frequency of 41 MHz, which resulted in a 43 μm axial resolution. Ex vivo IVUS imaging was conducted to demonstrate the improvement of axial resolution. The composite transducer was capable of identifying the three layers of a cadaver coronary artery specimen with high resolution. The PIN-PMN-PT-based composite has superior piezoelectric properties comparable to PMN-PT-based composite and its thermal stability is higher than PMN-PT. PIN-PMN-PT crystal can be an alternative approach for fabricating high-frequency composite, instead of using PMN-PT.

Characterization of an Improved 1-3 Piezoelectric Composite by Simulation and Experiment

“…Several local and international experts have focused on improving the electromechanical coupling factor of 1-3 piezoelectric composites. For example, Li et al (1,2) prepared 1-3 piezoelectric composites by using a single crystal as the piezoelectric phase material and the electromechanical coupling factor of the composites was 0.7. However, the high cost and unstable performance of piezoelectric single crystal inhibit its application range.…”

Angled-focused 45MHz PMN-PT single element transducer for intravascular ultrasound imaging

“…Our group has been intensively developing IVUS imaging transducers and systems [13-17]. A PMN-PT free-standing film approach was used to develop a high frequency IVUS transducer for a high frequency application [13].…”

“…An Integrated IVUS and fiber-based optical coherence tomography catheter was developed [16]. A new material in 1–3 composite configuration was used to develop an IVUS transducer for high frequency and wide bandwidth [17]. …”

Design and fabrication of high frequency BNT film based linear array transducer

“…In the practical application, since the diameter of the catheter in intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) system is considerably small (usually less than 1 mm), it is challenging to fabricate such miniaturized transducers with high center frequency using mechanical dicing and filling method [11][12][13][14]. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) techniques, on the other hand, give a new way such as photolithography or deep reactive techniques to fabricate such miniaturized devices [15].…”