Patent ID: 8876718
Filing Date: 2014-11-04
Classification: A61B,H01L

Abstract:
1. An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprising: inorganic piezoelectric elements arranged on a surface of a backing material in an arrayed manner at a first pitch; a first acoustic matching layer arranged on the inorganic piezoelectric elements extending over all the inorganic piezoelectric elements; organic piezoelectric elements arranged on the first acoustic matching layer in an arrayed manner at a second pitch smaller than the first pitch, each of the organic piezoelectric elements having a thickness meeting λ/4 resonance conditions with respect to a wavelength λ of a fundamental wave transmitted from the inorganic piezoelectric elements a transmission circuit for transmitting ultrasound from the inorganic piezoelectric elements through the organic piezoelectric elements serving as a second acoustic matching layer; a reception circuit for using the organic piezoelectric elements as non-resonant reception devices to receive an ultrasonic echo and thereby obtain reception signals, transmitting the reception signals to amplifiers via transmission cables each having a capacitance 0.1 to 5 times as high as a capacitance of a corresponding organic piezoelectric element to amplify the reception signals, and performing reception focusing to generate sample data after analog/digital converting the reception signals; and an image generating unit for generating an ultrasound image based on the sample data generated by the reception circuit.