Highly sensitive miniature needle PVDF-TrFE ultrasound sensor for optoacoustic microscopy

Yu-Hang Liu; Alexey Kurnikov; Weiye Li; Pavel Subochev; Daniel Razansky

doi:10.1117/1.APN.2.5.056006

Advanced Photonics Nexus, Volume. 2, Issue 5, 056006(2023)

Highly sensitive miniature needle PVDF-TrFE ultrasound sensor for optoacoustic microscopy

Yu-Hang Liu^1,2, Alexey Kurnikov³, Weiye Li^1,2, Pavel Subochev³, and Daniel Razansky^1,2、*

¹University of Zurich, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, Zurich, Switzerland

²ETH Zurich, Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Zurich, Switzerland

³Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

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Fig. 1. Design and detection performance characteristics of the miniature needle US sensor. (a) Schematic and external dimensions of the sensor. Preamp, preamplifier. (b) The detected OA signal from a thin black tape and its frequency spectrum.

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Fig. 2. Sensitivity characterization of the developed needle US sensor and evaluation of the effective US detection area. (a) Schematic of the experimental setup for evaluating the US detection performance. (b) Frequency-dependent normalized signal measurements of the needle US sensor. (c) Corresponding results for a commercial NH0500 hydrophone. (d) Ratio between the curves in (b) and (c). (e) Absolute frequency-dependent sensitivity in $μ V / Pa$ . (f) Result of needle US sensor directivity measurements. (g) Schematic of US detection/light scanning area and incident angles for scan points located at the edge of US detection area. The US detection SNR is found to be consistent within this area.

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Fig. 3. The customized optical-resolution light scanning OAM system and image postprocessing measures. (a) Schematic of the system. SL, scan lens; TL, tube lens; M, mirror; DAQ, data acquisition card; Obj, objective lens; and NS, needle US sensor. (b) Image postprocessing pipeline; (c) raw OA image; and (d) processed OA image via the optimized image postprocessing pipeline.

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Fig. 4. Images acquired by the light scanning-based OAM system integrated with the needle US sensor. (a) OAM image of a surgical blade; (b) OAM image of $7 μ m$ diameter carbon fibers; (c) in vivo image acquired from a mouse ear; and (d) in vivo mouse brain vasculature image. The green dashed arrows in (c) and (d) denote large ( $\sim 29$ – $46 μ m$ diameter) vessels, whereas blue solid arrows denote $\sim 3$ – $7 μ m$ diameter microcapillaries. The yellow arrowheads indicate individual red blood cells within a microvessel. Scale bars: $50 μ m$ .

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Table 1. Comparison of material properties and measured parameters of two needle US sensors with different piezo thin films.^a

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Table 1. Comparison of material properties and measured parameters of two needle US sensors with different piezo thin films.^a


	PVDF-TrFE (needle US sensor)	PVDF (NH0500)
Thickness ( $μ m$ )	20	9
Dielectric constant $ε$	8	13.5
Effective area $S$ $({mm}^{2})$	0.2	0.2
Film capacitance $C_{0}$ (pF)	0.7	2.6
Measured US sensor capacitance $C$ (pF)	2	12
Electromechanical coupling coefficient $k_{t}$	0.25	0.15
Contribution of film capacitance to the total capacitance measurement $\frac{C_{0}}{C}$	0.35	0.21
Electrical voltage produced by the film $U_{0} ≅ \frac{1}{C_{0}}$	1.43	0.38
Electrical voltage produced by the US sensor $U ≅ k_{t} \times U_{0} \times \frac{C_{0}}{C}$	0.1243	0.0127
Energy transduction coefficient $d_{33} \times g_{33} = \frac{1}{ρ v^{2}} \frac{k_{t}^{2}}{1 - k_{t}^{2}}$ ( $10^{- 12} m^{2} / N$ )	7.65	2.64
Measured frequency band (MHz)	1.2–25.5	1–26
Average sensitivity ( $μ V / Pa$ )	1.6	0.18
RMS noise ( $μ V$ )	22	30
NEP (Pa)	14	166
NEP ( $mPa / {Hz}^{1 / 2}$ )	2.8	33

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Yu-Hang Liu, Alexey Kurnikov, Weiye Li, Pavel Subochev, Daniel Razansky, "Highly sensitive miniature needle PVDF-TrFE ultrasound sensor for optoacoustic microscopy," Adv. Photon. Nexus 2, 056006 (2023)

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Paper Information

Category: Research Articles

Received: Dec. 15, 2022

Accepted: Jul. 3, 2023

Published Online: Sep. 25, 2023

The Author Email: Daniel Razansky (daniel.razansky@uzh.ch)

DOI:10.1117/1.APN.2.5.056006

Topics

laser devices and laser physics

Lasers and Laser Optics

Laser physics

laser manufacturing

Instrumentation, Measurement and Metrology

Table 1. Comparison of material properties and measured parameters of two needle US sensors with different piezo thin films.a

Table 1. Comparison of material properties and measured parameters of two needle US sensors with different piezo thin films.a

Table 1. Comparison of material properties and measured parameters of two needle US sensors with different piezo thin films.^a

Table 1. Comparison of material properties and measured parameters of two needle US sensors with different piezo thin films.^a