Fully Printed Flexible Ultrasound Transducer for Medical Applications
Kirill Keller, Christoph Leitner, Christian Baumgärtner, Luca Benini, Francesco Greco
Abstract
Abstract The fabrication of a fully printed, lead‐free, polymer piezoelectric transducer is presented and the characterization of its structural, dielectric, and ferroelectric properties at different processing stages is demonstrated. The performance of poly(vinylidene fluoride‐trifluoroethylene) transducers with resonance frequency analyses, acoustic power measurements, and pulse‐echo experiments is evaluated. Notably, for the first time for a fully printed transducer, an optimal performance in the medical ultrasound range (<15 MHz) is demonstrated with acoustic power >1 W cm −2 , which is promising for applications in epidermal and wearable electronics. Overall, the findings provide a strong foundation for future research in the area of flexible ultrasound transducers.