Fabrication and performance of a micro 50-MHz IVUS Transducer based on a 1-3 composite with geometric focusing

In this paper a micro 50-MHz IVUS Transducer based on a 1-3 piezo-composite with geometric focusing was presented. The using 1-3 PZT composite material was developed in our laboratory with 12 um kerfs and 18 um pillars. The transducer was focused in the elevation direction by geometrically shaping the composite material using a PTEF ball with a 5 mm radius. After the silver conductive backing layer was cured, the transducer was divided into the size of 1.0 × 1.0 mm. The final fabricated transducer was fixed in a needle tip, and its diameter is 9F. According to the testing results with our homemade IVUS system, its lateral resolution is about 120 um, which effectively improved the lateral resolution of current IVUS system.