A 3.7 MHz phased array probe using 0.91Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O-3-0.09PbTiO(3) single crystal

A novel 128-channel phased array probe for echocardiography with a center f requency of 3.7 MHz using 0.91Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O-3-0.09PbTiO(3) (PZN-9%PT) sin gle crystal has been fabricated to realize greater sensitivity and broader bandwidth properties. The echo amplitude of the PZN-9%PT single-crystal pro be is about 5 dB higher than that of the conventional lead zirconate titana te (PZT) ceramic probe, and the fractional bandwidth is about 25 percentage points broader. The quality of B mode images obtained by the PZN-9%PT prob e satisfies the performance of the two types of conventional PZT ceramic pr obes that have center frequencies of 2.5 and 3.75 MHz. At the reference fre quency of 3 MHz, the Doppler sensitivity of the PZN-9%PT probe is about 5 d B higher than that of the 3.75 MHz PZT probe; the blood flow of a pulmonary vein in a hard-to-image patient is much more clearly imaged than in the ca se of using the PZT probe. These superior images are attributable to the us e of sufficiently large PZN-9%PT single crystals obtained by the serf-flux method.