Laser Micromachined Flexible Ultrasound Line Array and Subplanar Multimodal Imaging Applications

Abstract

Flexible ultrasound array with phased array configurations have individually controllable array element emission and reception acoustic properties, however array conventional processes and array design are too complex. It is necessary to explore rapid creation methods and potential ultrasound applications for flexible arrays. In this paper, we provide a method for rapid fabrication of flexible transducers based on laser micromachining and verify the performance of the line array by multi-mode positioning imaging under curved surfaces. The proposed single-layered and double-sided conductive stretchable electrode configuration eliminated the blockage of acoustic waves,and ’island bridge’ structures are compatible with array flexibility and array excitation for row addressing.The mechanical, acoustic and electrical interconnections of the array are verified.Based on the Verasonics system, the ultrasonic line array scans multiple steel column targets in multiple modalities under curved surfaces for imaging and localization.The results show that the ultrasonic line array can obtain clear visual localization images in A-scan, B-scan and E-scan poses.In addition, the artifacts in the images can be effectively suppressed by adjusting the depth of focus of E-scan and optimizing the sparse line array structure. It is verified that laser micromachining for rapid creation of flexible ultrasonic line array has potential applications in the field of localization imaging.