Directionally oriented piezoelectric materials and methods of fabrication
OwnerEric A. Burgettinventor
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Abstract
Using a chemical vapor-phase deposition (CVD), physical vapor phase deposition (PVD) process or similar, novel directionally-oriented piezoelectric materials are created from zinc oxide (ZnO) and similar materials with innovative features that enhance their performance as ultrasonic transducers. Applications for these enhanced piezoelectric materials and transducers include: underwater sonar devices, non-destructive testing devices, tank level indicators, eddy current detectors, ultrasonic wellfield characterization devices, and in-fluid imaging devices (e.g., under-water and under-sodium viewing devices).
Claims13
A method of forming directionally oriented piezoelectric materials, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing a single crystal substrate;
- determining a desired emission frequency
- depositing an epitaxial coating material onto said substrate so that the thickness of said epitaxial coating is controlled and is correlated with said desired emission frequency.
A directionally oriented ultrasonic transducer comprising;
- A wafer made from piezoelectric material;
- a phononic crystal material applied to said wafer, wherein said phononic crystal material includes an alternating array of a first material having a first hardness and a second material having a second hardness,
- wherein said phononic crystals resonate in specific directions and frequencies and are muted in other directions.
An ultrasonic system comprising:
- a piezoelectric transducer having a phononic crystal material including an alternating array of a first material having a first hardness and a second material having a second hardness;
- a phononic crystal resonator wave guide, wherein said phononic crystal resonator wave guide receives emitted frequencies from said piezoelectric transducer.
A method for varying frequency of a directionally oriented ultrasonic transducer comprising the steps of;
- providing a wafer made from piezoelectric material, wherein said piezoelectric material is tuned to a first frequency;
- changing said first frequency to a second frequency by applying a DC bias so that said piezoelectric material expands or contracts in proportion to said applied DC bias.
A directionally oriented ultrasonic transducer comprising:
- a wafer made from piezoelectric material;
- a concentric ring structure fabricated into said wafer, wherein said concentric ring structure can be biased independently to create a variable focal length transducer to dynamically scan multiple depths into a sample in real time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.