Ultrasonic phased arrays for

nondestructive testing
A. McNab and M.J. Campbell
Although ultrasonic phased arrays are potentially ideally suited to many applications
in NDT, their use in practice is limited by the complexity of array probe manufacture
and the bulk and cost of the associated electronic control instrumentation. In this
article a number of probe designs are discussed, with particular emphasis being
placed on those having a simpler construction. The requirements of the electronic
systems for both transmission and reception of array signals are reviewed. A
compact, low-cost, phased-array instrument which compromises between array
probe scanning speed and the rate of data acquisition is also described.

Keywords: ultrasonics, phased arrays, electronic instrumentation, transmission,

reception

Ultrasonic phased arrays have until now found limited
application in nondestructive testing. They do however
hold out considerable promise; by using a number of
small elements excited with different time delays, it is
possible to both steer and focus the beam in transmission
and to image in reception. The ability to control the beam
characteristics of the phased-array probe electrically has
an attraction in automated systems where a large n u m b e r
of different probe angles may be required. To offset these
advantages, the greater complexity in manufacturing the
arrays, especially for large numbers of elements, and the
increased complexity of the electronic hardware make
these systems expensive,
In this article low-cost solutions to the array problem are
investigated and comparisons made with more complex
systems. Firstly it is necessary to assess previous work in
the field.
Phased-array systems for electronic beam steering and
reception are well established in medical ultrasonicsll,q,
where the requirement for real-time systems has led to
equipment which is both bulky and expensive. Early
notable work in N D T was that of Whittington and Coxlfl,
who applied phased arrays to control the ultrasonic beam
for the testing of tubes. Another system, designed by
Becker and CrowH, incorporated an array comprising 120
elements fired in groups of 16 at angles of 45 ° and 60 °. In
more recent years the research implemented by Kino and
his colleagues at Stanford on synthetic aperture focusing
(SAFT)H was very significant. In this particular case only
one element of the array fired in transmission; but a real-
time reception system, applicable to phased arrays, was
used to focus the received signals from each element to
form an image. As well as providing advancements in
electronic instrumentation, a wide range of array designs
for N D T were assessed.
The phased-array transducer
The design options for phased arrays are more complex
0308-9126/87/060333--05 $ 3 . 0 0 © 1 9 8 7 Butterworth ~ Co (Publishers) Ltd
NDT International Volume 20 Number 6 December 1987
than those for single transducers, where beam shape,
centre frequency and pulse length requirements can be
attained relatively easily. One choice to be made is
between linear or two-dimensional structures, the latter
option giving increased problems in element connection
and multiplexing. In practice, linear arrays are often
adequate for many test situations, since beam shaping in
only one dimension (the cross-section or lateral) is
necessary at any one time. This greatly simplifies
construction.
Other factors to be considered in the design of an array
relate to its form of construction, which can be divided
into two main types: slotted and monolithic. In the slotted
array individual elements are defined by cutting or
partially cutting through the piezoelectric ceramic to
introduce effective isolation between the elements. In the
monolithic array the elements are produced by locally
electroding the surface while leaving the plate intact. As
would be expected, there is strong elastic cross-coupling in
this type of array.
The slotted array is not without its problems, some of
which were outlined by Larsonlfl. He investigated multi-
mode operation, with electrical and acoustic cross-
coupling, and highlighted that a continuous protective
front-face layer on the array could propagate waves
between elements, significantly reducing performance.
Other studies by Pesque et allfl assessed the effects of
cross-coupling on the radiated fields of both slotted and
monolithic arrays for medical applications. They conclu-
ded that the monolithic array was unsuitable for medical
imaging because of plate waves in the ceramic, which had
a large acoustic mismatch to the aqueous transmission
medium.
In N D T both array types have been studied at StanfordlSl,
where the work on SAFT led to a number of interesting
designs. These included immersion probe units consisting
of 32-element, 3.3 MHz, compressional wave, sliced
333
arraysl~l, from which shear waves were formed in the test Transmission electronics
piece by mode conversion. Demonstrations of real-time
imaginglgl were also achieved with a selection of longi- The electronic instrumentation required to operate
tudinal and shear contacting arraysll01, the latter type phased arrays is dependent upon whether the array
being coupled to the test specimen by either a viscous transmits or receives ultrasound or both. From Figure 2a
couplant or wedge. The wedge converted shear waves the simpler problem is the design of a transmitter circuit.
from the transducer into longitudinal waves for passing In this case each element is fired with a linear delay
through a liquid couplant layer, and then reverted to shear sequence for beam steering or with a curved delay profile
waves in the test specimen. This technique improved the for focusing
overall resolution of the ultrasonic image. There are other factors to be considered in the design.
For simplicity of manufacture, the monolithic array These are: the number of elements, particularly as
appears attractive, since no mechanical cutting is required focusing may require increased numbers for a sufficiently
and the electrode pattern on the surface can be defined by large radiation aperture; whether the array is contacting
aluminium evaporation, photolithography and etching, the solid surface or is immersed in liquid; the nature of the
and wire bondingl'l. The advantage is that highly electrical excitation, either burst or pulsed; the element
reproducible elements can be obtained, especially at amplitude weighting to reduce side-lobes in the radiated
frequencies of 5 M H z and above. The disadvantage is that field; the magnitude of the inter-element delay, which
high acoustic cross-coupling due to plate waves degrades determines the angular resolution of the phased beam.
performance.
Various transmission systems have been proposed for
These arrays were first proposed by Auld et all ~21 and later medical[121 and N D T imaging One suchl'l, which focuses
investigated in reception for acoustic imaging by De in the array near-field for an aqueous transmission
Silets[81. He again concluded their unsuitability for medium, comprises of 32, 1 MHz, PZT elements. These
medical imaging, since reflection at the water-piezo-
electric interface would limit the angle of acceptance of
these arrays to --+30° when going from the low-velocity to
the high-velocity medium. However, when placed on a Delay We,ght
steel solid, this would be increased to -+90 ° , making
monolithic arrays attractive for N D T applications. In this
particular case a heavy tungsten-epoxy backing was
applied to the plate.
In transmission the monolithic array was investigated by Delay Weight ~ - ~
McNab and Stumpll"l, who concluded that in spite of the
plate wave problem, acceptable performance could be J_
achieved. The increased effective element source width,
caused by beam spread under the excited electrode, a
limited the steering to -+65 ° for longitudinal waves, but
high-angle shear waves were observed.
Thus in the low-cost system a 5MHz monolithic array of
the dimensions shown in Figure 1 was used to both
transmit and receive the ultrasound in the steel. Since
gold-wire bonding techniques were applied to connect to
each element, the array was left unbacked. The loading of
D Delay

the transducer was determined by coupling to the steel

solid itself.
Delay

D--
Sample and store r

Output
I (analogue or digital)

Analogue multiplexer
C
Fig. 2 (a) Array transmission system. (b) Array reception with inter-element
Fig. 1 5 MHz monolithic array delay and summing. {c) Multiplexed array reception, sampling and storage

334 NDT International December 1987

are excited by pulses which are amplitude-weighted and
have a 62.5 ns minimum inter-element delay increment
When contact testing in steel at 5 MHz, the higher velocity
dictates that small incremental delays are required if
elements are placed at X/2 separation to preclude grating
lobes in the field. Thus, for an element spacing of 0.6 mm
at 5 MHz and beam steering at 45 °, the angular resolution
is 8° for a delay increment of 10ns.
In a fully digital system the basic timing increment comes
from a fixed-frequency, high-stability clock, which for the
case above has a frequency of 100lMHz.While such clock
rates are readily obtainable with emitter coupled logic
(ECL), the negative power rail, high power consumption
and the need for voltage translation to TTL make this
option expensive. Alternatively Schottky TTL, with
propagation delays of tp = 3 ns, offers standard TTL
voltage-levels and satisfactory performance for medium-
resolution systems having incremental delays of 20 ns and
angular resolutions of 8°. However, the more recent
Advanced Schottky (tp = 1.5 ns) and FAST ( t o = 2.5 ns)
bipolar logic families have overtaken earlier forms of ECL
and are capable of operating with 100 MHz multiphased
clocks at delays of 5 ns and 4 ° resolution.
For very fine delay control to a few nanoseconds, linear
devices such as voltage-controlled monostables or digital
oscillators (VCOs) clocking the input to a parallel-output
shift register can be employed. Problems of ageing and
drift from their linear elements make them less attractive
when compared with a fixed clock in integrated digital
systems.
Reception electronics
The reception of ultrasound by a phased array is the
inverse of transmission; signals from each element must
be delayed relative to one other before being combined to
realize a steered or focused directivity (Figure 2b). This
processing can be implemented either in hardware, which
delays and sums the signals, or in computer software if the
signals have been sampled and stored. The first case is
applicable to real-time operation, necessary for fast
scanning systems, while in the second, pseudo-real-time or
off-line processing can be applied to slow scan or static
probe operation.
Many hardware solutions have been proposed for imple-
menting the delay function. These range from lumped
delay lines, which are bulky and provide course delay
changes by switching between a number of different lines,
to analogue mixersl~41. This technique, which introduces a
phase delay into the signal by altering the phase of the
local oscillator, has been applied in both medical and
N D T systems. It provides a relatively fine control of phase,
but stability can be a problem and a digital system is
attractive.
A very flexible approachH is the multiplexing of each
array element onto a fast A/D convertor (20-60 MHz)
followed by storage of the resulting data in bipolar
memory (Figure 2c). These data are subsequently clocked
out of the RAM with the required delay, before being
digitally summed and passed to a D/A converter and
thence to a display. The main limitations are the high
power consumption and the dynamic range being limited
by the A/D converter.
An alternative possibility is to insert a charge-coupled
device (CCD)I~s,161 as the delay line. Such devices both
sample and store the incoming signal as packets of charge
NDT International December 1987
which are clocked through the unit to provide the
appropriate delay. The system is essentially analogue,
since a particular charge packet is proportional to the
sampled signal amplitude, and as such the CCD outputs
can be directly combined. This implies the connection of
one CCD to each array element, although analogue
multiplexing is again possible. The minimum delay
increment depends on the clock rate, while the dynamic
range is limited by clock signal feedthrough.
A phased-array instrument for NDT
Previous phased-array systems have been expensive and
cumbersome, some using microcomputers or mainframes
for control and data. An instrument is described here
which uses microprocessor-based technology to produce
a simple, low-cost unit capable of controlling a phased
array in transmission and reception.
Since an array comprises many elements, individual
reception on each makes the supporting electronics
complex. However, the SAFT technique, which analogue-
multiplexes the element outputs over a number of
successive firings onto a single digitizer, reduces hardware
to a minimum. For the N D T system this approach was
implemented and was applicable to situations where the
medium under investigation changed little over
successive firing intervals. Another important difference
was that, whereas synthetic aperture achieves beam
steering in reception, a directed beam in transmission
provides considerable additional advantage. Hence the
architecture required that a directed beam be formed in
transmission and data be received in consecutive
channels. Steering on reception was achieved under
program control. Figure 3 shows the system under
discussion.
The overall controlling element is the microprocessor,
which need not be of any particular type. The main
requirements are: it may access sufficient memory to store
A-scan data from all of the array elements; it possesses a
Microprocessor
Sampling and
conversio n
Digital
Analogue
line control
board
Multiplexer
and amplifier
II
II
Array I
Fig. 3 A phased-arrayinstrument for monolithic arrays
335
 1M2 3

• ~ - -- 0
a <
-1

4K7
I 1OK
-3

o -4 I i l i I i i L,
IK2 O/P 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220240

8 . . . .

v _ _ 6

4
Fig. 4 Array element electronms (a) transmitter: (b) preamplifier

parallel interface to operate the array steering circuitry, it
has software to manipulate the received data to form
synthetic steering on reception.
The main components of the system are as follows:
Transmission circuitry
Figure 4a shows the pulsing circuit used for each of the
channels; it has a standard form with a transistor
switching element. Not that transmission voltages were
limited to 30 V to ease power supply requirements and
could be set to a desired amplitude weighting. For a
16-element array the transmission circuits, each of which
included a preamplifier, were fabricated on four
Eurocard-sized printed-circuit boards.
Preamplifiers
Since signal levels from a small element have a very low
amplitude, it was necessary to employ sensitive receiving
circuitry on each channel. The first amplifier stage is
shown in Figure 4b and comprises a dual JFET (transistor
T2) protected from the +main bang' by back-to-back
clipping diodes.
Multiplexer and main amplifier
To minimize hardware costs, one channel of received data
is sampled during one transmission period. A multiplexer
therefore selects the required channel for connection to
the main amplifier stage consisting of low-noise, wide-
band operational amplifiers.
Data sampling and conversion
A charge-coupled device is used to both sample and store
the A-scan data. The linear delay-line CCD, comprising
455 elements, has an external clockwhich can be changed
to vary the rate of charge transfer along the line to the
output. The data are acquired at the relatively high rate of
12.5M samples/s and released at a much reduced rate.
2
~ 0
g
< -2
-4
_0
-8 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
b Time samples (fs = 500 kHz)
Fig. 5 Sampling and time expansion of array element received signals using
a charge-coupled device (CCD): (a) array element signal; (b) time-expanded
CCD output
Thus the CCD acts as both an analogue sampler and time
expander of the data. This reduces the conversion rate
required of the A/D converter and permits direct input
from the CCD to the microcomputer and its memory. This
technique is explained in Campbell et all'~l.
Digital control board
The digital control section provides the timings for both
transmission and reception. For the current application,
Schottky TTL was used to construct the circuit on a
special-purpose board. The external microcorffputer
selects the required inter-element dealy for steering and
triggers the control unit+ where a 50 MHz clock sets the
basic timing increment. In this case the inter-element
delays are multiples of 20 as.
The 50 MHz clock also determines the sampling rate of
the CCD, being divided into four 12.5 MHz clocks having
a phase displacement from each other of 90°. A two-bit

336 NDT International D e c e m b e r 1 9 8 7

b i n a r y n u m b e r from the m i c r o c o m p u t e r switches in a
p a r t i c u l a r clock p h a s e d u r i n g the t r a n s m i s s i o n cycle. By
selecting each o f the clock p h a s e s s e q u e n t i a l l y on
successive t r a n s m i t t e r firings, a synthetic s a m p l i n g rate o f
50 M H z c a n be achieved. To increase the s a m p l e d range
on the A-scan, a n o t h e r o n e - b i t control i n p u t indicates
w h e t h e r the first or last 455 s a m p l e s o f A - s c a n d a t a are to
be t i m e - e x p a n d e d .
The p e r f o r m a n c e o f the i n s t r u m e n t in t r a n s m i s s i o n has
been d e s c r i b e d in C a m p b e l l a n d McNabPSI, b u t Figure 5a
shows the a n a l o g u e i n p u t signal to the C C D from a single
array e l e m e n t d u r i n g transmit/receive operation. This was
o b t a i n e d using a S o n y - T e k t r o n i x 60 M H z digitizer. The
corresponding output from the C C D is shown in Figure 5b,
where an effective time-expanded sampling rate of 500 kHz
results from slow clocking at 125 k H z at the end o f the four
s a m p l i n g clock phases.
Futu re developments
There is still great potential for future d e v e l o p m e n t s in
both the design o f the array a n d its associated electronics.
Other piezoelectric m a t e r i a l s such as lead m e t a n i o b a t e ,
p o l y m e r films ( P V D F ) a n d the e p o x y - c e r a m i c c o m p o s i t e s
have g o o d potential for m o n o l i t h i c arrays, since their
lateral elastic c o u p l i n g is small. T h e latter m a t e r i a l in
p a r t i c u l a r is attractive because o f its high t r a n s d u c t i o n
efficiency.
I m p r o v e m e n t s to the speed versus p o w e r c o n s u m p t i o n o f
T T L families will c o n t i n u e to simplify the design o f a r r a y
controllers for t r a n s m i s s i o n , while for reception the thick-
film integration o f p r e a m p l i f i e r s a n d a n a l o g u e multi-
plexers will p e r m i t m o r e c o m p a c t array instruments.
S a m p l i n g a n d storage o f received d a t a will benefit as the
speed-to-cost ratio o f A / D converters a n d the capacity o f
h i g h - s p e e d m e m o r i e s c o n t i n u e s to improve. This will
reduce the need to c o m p r o m i s e between system c o m -
plexity a n d the rate o f d a t a a c q u i s i t i o n from the a r r a y
elements.
Acknowledgements
The authors w o u l d like to t h a n k the U K S E R C for f u n d i n g
research into m o n o l i t h i c arrays, from w h i c h w o r k this
article originates.
References
1 Somer, J.C. "Electronic sector scanning for ultrasonic diag-
nosis" Ultrasonics 6 (July 1968) pp 153-159
Paper received 10 August 1987
NDT International December 1987
2 von Ramm, O.T. and Smith, S.W. 'Beam steering and linear
arrays" 1EEE Trans Biomedical Engineering BME-30 (1983)
pp 438-453
3 Whittington, K.R. and Cox, B.D. "Electronic steering and
tbcussing of ultrasonic beams in tube inspection" Uhrasoni~w 7
(January 1969) pp 20-24
4 Becket, F.L. and Crow, V.L. 'Development of an ultrasonic
imaging system for inspection in nuclear reactor pressure
vessels"Electric Power Research bTstitut~; Palo AIto. Report NP/1229
(October 1979)
5 Kino, G.S., Cork P.D., Bennet, S. and Peterson, K. 'Real time
synthetic aperature imaging system' Proc IEEE Ultrasonics 5~vmp
(November 1980) pp 772-731
6 Larson, J.D. 'Non-ideal radiators in phased array transducers"
Proc IEEE Ultrasonics Svmp( 1981 ) pp 673-679
7 Pesque, P., Coursant, R.H. and Mequio, C. "Methodology tbr the
characterisation and design of linear arrays of ultrasonic
transducers" Acta Electronica 25 4 (1983) pp 325-340
8 De Silets, C.S. "Transducer arrays suitable for acoustic imaging"
PhD Dissertation Stanford University, Stanford, CA (1978)
9 Peterson, D.K, Bennett, S.D. and Kino, G.S. 'Demonstration of
real time imaging" Proc IEEE Ultrasonics 5)'rap (1981) pp 919-
924
10 Baer, R., Selfridge, A.P., Yari Yakub, B.T. and Kino, G.S.
'Contacting transducers and transducer arrays for NDE" Proc
IEEE Ultrasonics Syrup (1981) pp 969-973
I1 MeNab, A. and Stnmpf, I. 'Monolithic phased arrays for the
transmission of ultrasound in NDT ultrasonics' Ultrasoni~w 24
(May 1986) pp 148-155
12 Auld, B.A., Drake, M.E. and Roberts, G.G. 'Monolithic acoustic
imaging structures with high spatial resolution'ApplPhysLett 25
9 (1974) p 478
13 Hosseini, S., Harrold, S.O. and Reeves, J.M. ~Computcr
controlled focussed ultrasonic transmitting array" IEEE Trat:s
Sonics and Ultrasonics SU-31 4 (1984) pp 432-435
14 Collins, H.D. etal "Acoustic holography matrix imaging system
tor underwater inspection of off\shore oil ptatform weldments"
Acoustical hnaging vol 8. Plenum Press, New York (1978)
15 Beaver, W.L. "A method of 3-dimensional focussing and beam
steering" Proc 1EEE Ultrasonic~ Syrup (1975) pp 88-90
16 Walker, J.T. and Meindl, J.D. "A digitally controlled CCD
dynamically focussed phased array" Pro(" 1EEE Ultras~mics
Syrup (1975) pp 80-84
17 Campbell, M.A. Hayward, G. and McNab, A. 'A novel
approach to ultrasonic data acquisition' Proc Ultrasonics lnt 85
Cop~[."London (July 1985) pp 523-527
18 Campbell, M.A., Hayward, G. and MeNab, A. 'A novel
control of a phased array for NDE' Proc 1EEE Ultrasonics ~vmp
(1985) pp 994-997
Authors
A, M c N a b is in the D e p a r t m e n t o f Electronic, a n d
Electrical Engineering, University o f Strathclyde,
204 G e o r g e St, G l a s g o w G1 l W X , UK. M.J. C a m p b e l l is
with Battelle, 7 Route de Drize, 1227 Carouge, Geneva,
Switzerland.
337