P1J-5 Performance Comparison of Screen-Printed Piezoelectric Structures on Porous PZT and Alumina Substrates

In previous work, screen-printing technology was used to elaborate an integrated piezoelectric structure on a porous substrate [1]. The substrate was chosen to withstand the film sintering temperature which was lowered at 800degC thanks to the addition of PGO to a PZT composition. The acoustical impedance of this substrate is very close to that of the deposited piezoelectric thick film, making it an adequate backing to deliver a short pulse-echo response, but the resonance frequency is lowered. Intermediate functional layers were necessary between the substrate and the piezoelectric layer. The transducer based on a porous PZT structure including a dense barrier layer and a gold rear electrode is used as a reference device. Here, another set of materials is considered as possible candidate to fulfill both functions of substrate and backing: porous alumina associated with a dense alumina barrier layer and platinum rear electrode. Since the thicknesses of these layers is not negligible compared to the wavelength of the first thickness mode of the piezoelectric layer, they have a relatively strong influence on the electro- acoustic response. The input acoustic impedance of this stack must be controlled very precisely in order to make it an adequate backing The damping of the backing is optimized to deliver a relatively short pulse-echo response, without excessive lowering of the resonance frequency. The piezoelectric thick film on alumina substrate has similar properties to the one on porous PZT. A mean thickness around 30 micrometers and a thickness coupling factor around 40% were obtained in both cases. As a result of the damping, the structure resonates at 40 MHz, the anti-resonance of the piezoelectric thick film alone being around 65 MHz. Pulse-echo measurements allows comparison of the performance of the two devices in terms of sensitivity, axial resolution and bandwidth. The results are compared and discussed, showing that the sensitivity/bandwidth trade-offs of the two transducers are significantly different.