Enhanced piezoelectric and dielectric properties of AC poled sliver-mode Pb(In 1/2 Nb 1/2 )O 3 -Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 -PbTiO 3  single crystals for ultrasonic abdomen probes

Abstract The effect of AC poling (ACP) on the piezoelectric and dielectric properties of diced sliver-mode vibrators (L13 × W0.15–0.30 × T0.51 mm 3 ) was investigated for a convex abdomen ultrasound (US) probe that is made of a large Pb(In 1/2 Nb 1/2 )O 3 -Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 −0.3PbTiO 3 (PIN-PMN-PT) single crystal (SC) plate (L13 × W60 × T0.51 mm 3 ). The SC was manufactured by the continuous feeding Bridgman (CF-BM) method. The ε 33 T / ε 0 aging rate (AR) of both DCP and ACP large plate SCs were found to be within 1%/decade suggesting no obvious property degradation. After array dicing, a considerable decrease in electromechanical and dielectric properties was observed. After a post-dicing DCP, the diced DCP-DCP 0.15 mm wide SC slivers showed ε 33 T / ε 0 and electromechanical coupling factor ( k ′ 33 ) of 4300 and 89.1%, respectively. The diced ACP-DCP 0.15 mm wide SC slivers showed improved ε 33 T / ε 0 and k ′ 33 of 5980 and 92.2%, respectively, which are considered useful in practical medical array transducer applications.