Development of water immerse type ultrasound probe with PZT film deposited by hydrothermal method

It is well known that the ultrasound is used in various fields like medical applications, non-destructive inspection and many other manufacturing processes. Piezoelectric transducers are used most frequently to generate ultrasound. In particular, piezoelectric ceramic transducers like PZT are used most frequently. However, for the generation of high frequency ultrasound from 10 to 20 MHz, PZT transducer is difficult to handle because thickness is less than 0.2 mm. Therefore, our purpose of study is to form PZT piezoelectric films with hydrothermal method and to develop ultrasound sensors with resonant frequency of a few MHz to a few hundreds MHz. Ultrasound sensors with resonant frequency of a few MHz which were difficult to be fabricated by conventional hydrothermal method were manufactured and their performance in water was studied and reported. These results show the feasibility of the fabrication of ultrasound sensors of frequency from a few MHz to a few hundreds MHz by hydrothermal method.