Abstract A 20 MHz single-element ultrasonic probe using 0.91Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O30.09 PbTiO3 (PZN-PT 91/9) single crystal has been fabricated. The single crystal of PZN-PT 91/9 orientated to the (001) plane has longitudinal coupling factor of k33 > 90%, which is much larger than the k33 = 70 to 80% of conventional Pb(Zr1- x,Tix)O3 (PZT) based ceramics. A single crystal of PZN-PT 91/9 without inclusion or crack has been grown with dimensions of about 25 × 15 × 5 mm by the self-flux method. Because mechanical strength in the fabrication of disk transducers orientated to the (001) plane was sufficiently strong, under the same conditions as are applied to conventional PZT ceramics, a piston single-element probe with a diameter of 2.0 mm and a frequency of 20 MHz was successfully fabricated. The bandwidth of the PZN-PT 91/9 probe was 13--26 MHz, which was 4 MHz broader than that of the conventional PZT probe.
1998 IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control 45:1071-1076
© 1998, by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved.