Portable, Wearable, Ultrasound Transducer

Researchers have developed a new ultrasound transducer that could dramatically lower the cost of ultrasound scanners to as little as $100. Conventional ultrasound scanners use piezoelectric crystals to create images of the inside of the body and send them to a computer to create sonograms. The piezoelectric crystals were replaced with tiny vibrating drums made of polymer resin, called polyCMUTs (polymer capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers), which are cheaper to manufacture.