A 3.5 MHz phased array probe using 0.91Pb(Zn/sub 1/3/Nb/sub 2/3/)O/sub 3/-0.09PbTiO/sub 3/ single crystal

A novel 128-channel phased array probe for echocardiography with a center frequency of 3.5 MHz, using 0.91Pb(Zn/sub 1/3/Nb/sub 2/3/)O/sub 3/-0.09PbTiO/sub 3/ (PZN-9%PT) single crystal has been fabricated to realize greater sensitivity and broader bandwidth properties. The echo amplitude of the PZN-9%PT single-crystal probe is about 5 dB higher than that of the conventional lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic probe, and the fractional bandwidth is about 25 percentage points broader. The quality of a B mode image obtained by the PZN-9%PT probe satisfies the performance of the conventional PZT ceramic probe which has a center frequency of 3.75 MHz. At the reference frequency of 3 MHz, the Doppler sensitivity of the PZN-9%PT probe is about 5 dB higher than that of the PZT probe; the blood flow of a pulmonary vein in a hard-to-image patient is much more clearly imaged than in the case of using the PZT probe. These superior images are attributable to the use of sufficiently large PZN-9%PT single crystals obtained by the self-flux method.