2-D Array Design and Fabrication With Pitch-Shifting Interposer at Frequencies From 4 MHz up to 10 MHz

High element density and strict constraints of the element’s size have significantly limited the design and fabrication of 2-D ultrasonic arrays, especially fully sampled 2-D arrays. Recently, 3-D printing technology has been one of the most rapidly developing fields. Along with the great progress of 3-D printing technology, complex and detailed 3-D structures have become readily available with a short iteration cycle, which allows us to reduce the complexity of routing and helps to ameliorate assembly problems in 2-D ultrasound array fabrication. In this work, we designed and fabricated 2-D ultrasound arrays for an array of applications with a pitch-shifting interposer, which allowed us to fit different array designs with the same circuit design and significantly reduce the requirements in routing and connection for 2-D array fabrication at frequencies from 4 to 10 MHz. Results demonstrated that this design would make 2-D arrays more available and affordable.