Development of a high frequency transducer for intravascular ultrasound imaging
Intravascular ultrasound(IVUS)imaging technology can accurately evaluate vascular lumen diameter,vascular wall morphology,related blood flow and vascular characteristics.It also plays an important role in the diagnosis,treatment guidance and post-treatment evaluation of coronary artery disease.In this paper,a high-frequency ultrasonic transducer for IVUS imaging is designed and fabricated,and the electrical and acoustic performances of the transducer are tested and characterized.The results show that the center frequency of the IVUS transducer is 38.9 MHz,and the-6 dB bandwidth is 56.6%,the resonant frequency is 42.3 MHz at which the electrical impedance is 22.6 Ω;the anti-resonant frequency is 48.2 MHz,at which the electrical impedance is 56.5 Ω;and the effective electromechanical coupling coefficient is 0.48.The results of wire phantom imaging experiments display that the axial and lateral resolutions of the transducer are 54 μm and 209 μm,respectively.Finally,compared with foreign IVUS transducers,the comprehensive results show that the proposed transducer has good performance to meet the needs of clinical diagnose.In the future,the proposed transducer is likely to break through the"bottleneck"technology and achieve domestic replacement.