ULTRASOUND TRANSDUCER

DR. UMIATIN, M.SI

Ultrasonik & Aplikasinya

 Review
Ultrasonic methods are based either on the determination of the characteristics
of propagation.
Ultrasound waves interact with biological tissue in various ways:
▪ partially absorbed by the tissue, energy is converted into heat.
▪ reflected
▪ or back scattered 2

Whether reflected or back-scattered, echoes are received by the transducer.

Echoes (source of the diagnostic information).

The echoes are analyzed regard to (time– distance principle), and their
intensity
 Basic component of US machines
1. Pulser – electronic device that
produce high amplitude
voltage electrical pulses to
energize crystals
2. Transducer - converts energy 3
from one form to another
3. Receiver -detects and
amplifies signals
 Ultrasonic Transducer
The ultrasonic transducer is the one responsible for generating
ultrasound and recording the echoes generated by the medium.

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Ultrasound in the MHz range (high-frequency) can
be emitted as a directional beam, comparable to a
light beam, from transducers of practical size.
 What is ultrasonic transducer?
An ultrasonic transducer converts electrical
energy to mechanical energy, in the form of
sound, and vice versa.

The main components are :

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• the active element,
• backing,
• and wear plate.
 The Active Element
The active element (piezo or ferroelectric material), converts electrical
energy from a flaw detector into ultrasonic energy.

The most commonly used materials are polarized ceramics

which can be cut in a variety of manners to produce different 6
wave modes.

New materials such as piezo polymers and composites are also

being employed for applications where they provide benefit to
transducer and system performance.
 The Active Element

The piezoelectric element is

composed of aligned molecular
dipoles.

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At equilibrium there is no net
charge on ceramic surfaces
 Piezoelectricity
The piezo electric effect present in certain ceramic ferroelectric
materials. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) used in nearly all medical
ultrasound.

If a voltage is applied to the two electrodes, the result will be a

physical deformation (compressed or expanded) of the crystal surface,
which generate a sound field
Production of ultrasound relies on the reverse piezoelectric effect,
while detection is based on the piezoelectric effect
 Piezoelectricity

The piezoelectric attributes are attained after a process of :

• Molecular synthesis
• Heating
• Orientation of internal dipole structure with an applied external
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voltage
• Cooling to permanently the dipole orientation and
• Cutting into a specific shape
 Backing

The backing is usually a highly attenuative, high density material that is used
to control the vibration of the transducer by absorbing the energy radiating
from the back face of the active element.

This is important in pulsed -wave techniques in which

the transducer sends out a short burst of energyng a 10
pulsation.

When the acoustic impedance of the backing matches the

acoustic impedance of the active element, the result will
be a heavily damped transducer that displays good range
resolution but may be lower in signal amplitude.
 Wear Plate
The wear plate is to protect the transducer element from the testing
environment. In the case of contact transducers, the wear plate must be a
durable and corrosion resistant material in order to withstand the wear
caused by use on materials such as steel.

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It should be made of a material which
transmits ultrasound poorly, such as rubber.
 The Operating Frequency
1. The operating frequency is determined from the speed of sound in and the
thickness of the piezoelectric material.

2. In practice, crystal thicknesses for diagnostic ultrasound transducers range

typically from 0.1 mm for high frequencies to 1.0 mm for low frequencies. 12
The thinner the crystal, the higher the frequency

3. The size (diameter) and shape of the crystal have an effect on the shape of
the ultrasound beam as it travels outwards from the transducer
 Resonance Transducers
Transducers for pulse echo ultrasound imaging are manufactured to operate
in a “resonance” mode whereby a voltage (commonly 150 V) of very short
duration ( a voltage spike of ≈1 μs ) is applied, causing the piezoelectric
material to initially contract and subsequently vibrate at a natural resonance
frequency. 13

This frequency is selected by the “thickness cut” due to the preferential

emission of ultrasound waves shoes wavelength is twice the thickness of the
piezoelectric material.
 Crystal Thickness vs Frequency
Example :
The velocity of ultrasound in a commercial preparation of lead zirconate
titanate, a commonly used piezoelectric ceramic material, is 4,000 metres per
second. If a vibration frequency of 5 MHz were desired, what would be the
crystal thickness?
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 Image Quality & Depth

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There is a tradeoff between transducer frequency and image quality-

depth :
-High frequency = better image quality and lower depth.
-Low frequency = lower image quality and high depth.
 Single & Dual Element Transducer
The crystal element is the most important component of the transducer. It
is a thin disc of piezoelectric material near the front surface of the
transducer.
The crystal thickness controls the
frequency of vibrations. The crystal 16

thickness is chosen such that the vibrations

at the two surfaces will reinforce each
other every time, that is known as
constructive interference in wave theory
 Single & Dual Element Transducer

Dual element transducers, commonly used in

corrosion survey applications, differ in that
they have separate transmitting and receiving
elements separated by a sound barrier, no
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backing.
 Transducer Geometry
Based on geometry, the most common transducer shapes are :
• the circle for single crystal transducer assemblies,
• the rectangle, for multiple transducer assemblies such as those
found in linear, curvilinear and phased arrays
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 Transducer Design for Real Time

The concept of real-time ultrasound involves the generation of images of the

same cross-section repetitively and at a rate high enough to create the
impression of continuity of events in time. The images are generated and
erased in rapid succession at rates exceeding about 25 frames per second.
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Transducers for real-time imaging may be classified broadly into two
categories:
▪ mechanical transducers : oscillating, rotating
▪ Electronic transducer : linear array, curved array and phased array
 Mechanical Array
Made using either a single piezoelectric crystal or a small group of crystals

The beam sweep is achieved through physical movement of some part of the
transducer, usually the crystal element(s). The crystal elements are excited one
at a time to provide the ultrasound beam.
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The frame rate influenced by the speed of

wheel rotation
 Electronic Transducer
The beam is swept by electronic activation of crystal elements, without causing
the transducer to move physically. Electronic transducers are made from a
large number of small, identical crystal elements which are acoustically
insulated from each other. The crystals are arranged in a suitable geometrical
configuration, or an array, to provide the desired field of view. 21
 Transducer Array

In clinical scanners, the transducer consists

typically 128 to 512 of hundreds rectangular
small piezoelectric elements arranged in
linear or curvilinear arrays
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Each elements has a width typically less than

half the wavelength and a length of several
millimeters.
 Linear arrays
In linear array transducers, the crystal elements are arranged in a row.
Composed of 256 to 512 discrete transducer elements.
~15 to 20 adjacent elements may be activated simultaneously or
sequentially across surface of FOV / field of view).
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Linear Transducer - sound wave is
propagated in a linear fashion parallel
to the transducer surface. Ideal for
MSK (musculoskeletal US)
 Curvilinear Array
Curvilinear Transducer (Convex sequential array). Similar to linear
array but with piezoelectric elements arranged along with a
curved transducer head.
Ultrasound beams are emitted at 90 degrees to the
transducer head. This arrangement results in a 24
trapezoidal field of view due to the divergence of the
ultrasound beam with increasing depth.
This allows for a wider field of view but with decreased
line density at depth and reduced lateral
resolution. Ideal for visualization of deeper structures
 Phased Array
Phased array transducers composed of 64, 128, or 256 elements
(phase delay varied to sweep across FOV)
Smaller than linear array

All transducer elements are activated 25

nearly simultaneously to produce a
single ultrasound beam
Transducer Geometry in Medical Imaging

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 Beam Pattern of Transducer
Since the ultrasound transducer - or the piezoelectric crystal - has a size
comparable to or larger than the wavelength, the field generated
becomes very complex

The ultrasound beam is broken up into two

main areas : 27
• the near zone (Fresnel zone)
• and the far zone (Fraunhofer zone).
 Beam Pattern of Transducer

As individual wave patterns interact,

the peak and trough from adjacent
source constructively and destructively
interfere causing the beam profile to 28
be tightly collimated in the near field.
 Beam Pattern of Transducer
The near zone, is approximately the same size
and shape as the transducer. As the beam
propagates forward, this zone will begin to
diverge outward. For imaging, the longer and
more narrow the near zone, the better the
resolution and more sharp the image. 29

The focal zone is a range in between where the

near and far zones meet. Within this range, the
narrowest area is the sharpest focal point. If the
target of interest is too close to the transducer
or too far from the transducer then the image
will appear blurrier
 Beam Pattern and Half Angle
In the near field, the beam has a complex shape that narrows. In the
far field the beam diverges

For flat transducers as shown in Figure,

the pulse-echo beam spread angle is
given by equation : 30

View of a sound beam for a flat transducer

The beam spread from a transducer can be reduced by selecting a transducer with a
higher frequency or a larger element diameter or both.
The ultrasound beam can therefore be shaped by adjusting transducer geometry

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 Collecting the Echo
The echo returning to the disk makes it vibrate, creating a small electrical
potential across the same two electrodes that can be amplified and
recorded.

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Continued to : Ultrasound in imaging

 Ultrasound in NDT
Ultrasonic nondestructive testing introduces high frequency sound waves into
a test object to obtain information about the object without altering or
damaging it in any way.

Two basic quantities are measured in ultrasonic testing :

• time of flight or the amount of time for the sound to 33
travel through the sample,
• amplitude of received signal.

Based on velocity and round trip time of flight

through the material the material, thickness
can be calculated as follows:
 Ultrasound in NDT
Measurements of the relative change in signal amplitude can be used in sizing
flaws or measuring the attenuation of a material.

The relative change in signal amplitude is commonly measured in

decibels. Decibel values are the logarithmic value of the ratio of two 34

signal amplitudes. This can be calculated using the following

equation.
 Ultrasound in NDT
The relationships used to determine the thickness corresponding to a particular
frequency are:

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Continued to Ultrasound in NDT