Therapeutic Ultrasound: Contactless Drug Delivery and Treatment Enabled by Piezo Transducers

If an external force with changing amplitude acts on an elastic medium such as a gas, a liquid or a solid, an undulating propagation of pressure and density fluctuation occurs in space and time, starting from the point where the force is applied. This is known as sound. The frequency of sound waves ranges from a few hertz (Hz) up to several gigahertz (see Figure 1). Infrasound, the sound humans cannot hear, lies at frequencies below 16 Hz. It is followed by the hearing range, which reaches up to 20 kHz. Ultrasonic waves, which cannot be heard, lie in the frequency range from 20 kHz to 1.6 GHz, which equals 16 billion cycles per second. A prominent application example in medical technology is the use of ultrasound for diagnostic imaging techniques. In industry and research, ultrasound is mainly used in measurement technology, where sound waves with low power are used. The intensity of the sound describes the power that hits a certain surface. If it exceeds 10 W/cm2, we speak of power ultrasound, which often shows frequencies in the range of 20–800 kHz.