Flexible large-area ultrasound arrays for medical applications made using embossed polymer structures

Paul L. M. J. Neer, Laurens C. J. M. Peters, Roy G. F. A. Verbeek, Bart Peeters, Gerard Haas, Lars Hörchens, Laurent Fillinger, Thijs Schrama, Egon J. W. Merks-Swolfs, Kaj Gijsbertse, Anne E. C. M. Saris, Moein Mozaffarzadeh, Jan M. Menssen, Chris L. Korte, Jan-Laurens P. J. Steen, Arno W. F. Volker and Gerwin H. Gelinck ()
Additional contact information
Paul L. M. J. Neer: TNO
Laurens C. J. M. Peters: TNO
Roy G. F. A. Verbeek: TNO
Bart Peeters: TNO
Gerard Haas: TNO
Lars Hörchens: TNO
Laurent Fillinger: TNO
Thijs Schrama: TNO
Egon J. W. Merks-Swolfs: TNO
Kaj Gijsbertse: TNO
Anne E. C. M. Saris: Radboud university medical centre
Moein Mozaffarzadeh: Radboud university medical centre
Jan M. Menssen: Radboud university medical centre
Chris L. Korte: Radboud university medical centre
Jan-Laurens P. J. Steen: TNO
Arno W. F. Volker: TNO
Gerwin H. Gelinck: TNO

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract With the huge progress in micro-electronics and artificial intelligence, the ultrasound probe has become the bottleneck in further adoption of ultrasound beyond the clinical setting (e.g. home and monitoring applications). Today, ultrasound transducers have a small aperture, are bulky, contain lead and are expensive to fabricate. Furthermore, they are rigid, which limits their integration into flexible skin patches. New ways to fabricate flexible ultrasound patches have therefore attracted much attention recently. First prototypes typically use the same lead-containing piezo-electric materials, and are made using micro-assembly of rigid active components on plastic or rubber-like substrates. We present an ultrasound transducer-on-foil technology based on thermal embossing of a piezoelectric polymer. High-quality two-dimensional ultrasound images of a tissue mimicking phantom are obtained. Mechanical flexibility and effective area scalability of the transducer are demonstrated by functional integration into an endoscope probe with a small radius of 3 mm and a large area (91.2×14 mm2) non-invasive blood pressure sensor.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47074-1

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