Application Granted: August 12, 2025

Inventors: Sheng Xu*, Lin Zhang, Chonghe Wang, Hongjie Hu, Xiaoshi Li

*Professor, Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering (Xu Research Group)

The patent describes stretchable ultrasound probes that can conform to nonplanar surfaces. The invention’s soft ultrasonic transducer device features an array of piezoelectric transducer elements sandwiched between silicone elastomer substrates, with electrical interconnect layers facilitating connections on both sides of the transducer elements. It represents a new capability for 3-D ultrasonic detection and diagnostic imaging of complexly-shaped structural components and locations that are difficult to access with currently available rigid or flexible probes. This invention can be non-invasively integrated with the human body for long term monitoring of deep tissues and organs. It is foundational to the various applications being developed by the lead inventor’s startup Softsonics which was a finalist for the inaugural Spinoff Prize in the journal Nature (2020) with its skin-worn device to take blood-pressure readings continuously. The technology was also featured in a video by KPBS News (2023), where the lead inventor demonstrates a soft, postage-stamp-sized sensor that can adhere to the chest to capture the movement of the heart and has an algorithm that analyzes the images to assess the heart’s blood-pumping capacity. 

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