SBIR Phase I: Multifunctional materials for ultrasound diagnosis

SBIR第一期：用于超声诊断的多功能材料

• 批准号: 1046739
• 负责人: Yuri Shkel
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: CoMMET, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-01-01 至 2011-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1046739&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Multifunctional; materials; ultrasound

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project targets multifunctional meta-materials having acoustic impedance equal to tissue and optimized for solid-state tactile sensing. Optimized multifunctional performance of these newly developed meta-materials includes enhanced mechanical, acoustic and self-sensing response. The innovation of the proposed approach is in building two hierarchical levels of the material microstructure: (1) a meta-structured layer which is photo-lithographically patterned with specified features and (2) meta-structural elements which are comprised of aligned chains of nano-inclusions. The proposed manufacturing approach can be applied to a wide range of polymeric systems. However, this project targets materials which are suitable for biomedical applications and are compatible with clean-room processing. Critical manufacturing steps which will be developed and verified during the proposed Phase I research efforts include mixing nano-inclusions in polymeric photoresist, spinning polymer layers, aligning inclusions by electric field, and photolithographically defining meta-structures. The acoustic, mechanical and electro-active properties of the resulting materials will be experimentally verified.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be the fostering of novel approaches in ultrasound screening and medical diagnosis. The intended commercial application of the proposed materials is for acoustically transparent sensing layers in tactile sensing arrays, where this material has the potential to operate in front of an ultrasound transducer without adversely affecting imaging performance. A primary near-term impact of these new tactile sensing technologies will be the availability of contact pressure feedback signals during the ultrasound imaging procedure. Such tactile feedback would allow the operator to correct his/her mistakes and enable telemedicine through operation of diagnosis equipment by inexperienced users or remotely. This will improve the accuracy and broaden the utility of ultrasound as a diagnostic tool. Combining ultrasound imaging and tactile sensing also has the potential to revolutionize biopsy-free screening of breast and prostate cancers, reducing discomfort to patients and lowering the overall cost of the medical screening. Finally, an overall increase in the efficiency of ultrasound probes will enable highly efficient and portable ultrasound instruments. This would improve medical screening worldwide, especially in low-income areas, in small hospitals, and in point-of-care settings.

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目的目标是多功能超材料，其声阻抗等于组织，并针对固态触觉传感进行了优化。这些新开发的超材料的优化多功能性能包括增强的机械，声学和自感知响应。所提出的方法的创新之处在于构建了两个层次的材料微结构：（1）一个元结构层，它是光刻图案化的指定功能和（2）元结构元素，它是由纳米夹杂物的对齐链。所提出的制造方法可以应用于广泛的聚合物系统。然而，该项目的目标材料适用于生物医学应用，并与洁净室处理兼容。在拟议的第一阶段研究工作期间将开发和验证的关键制造步骤包括在聚合物光致抗蚀剂中混合纳米夹杂物，旋转聚合物层，通过电场对准夹杂物，以及以图形方式定义元结构。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是促进超声筛查和医疗诊断的新方法。所提出的材料的预期商业应用是用于触觉传感阵列中的透声传感层，其中该材料具有在超声换能器前面操作而不会对成像性能产生不利影响的潜力。这些新的触觉传感技术的主要近期影响将是超声成像过程中接触压力反馈信号的可用性。 这种触觉反馈将使操作者能够纠正他/她的错误，并通过由没有经验的用户或远程操作诊断设备来实现远程医疗。这将提高准确性并拓宽超声作为诊断工具的实用性。 结合超声成像和触觉传感也有可能彻底改变乳腺癌和前列腺癌的无活检筛查，减少患者的不适，降低医疗筛查的总体成本。最后，超声探头效率的总体提高将使高效和便携式超声仪器成为可能。这将改善全球范围内的医疗筛查，特别是在低收入地区、小医院和护理点。