An electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) (100) for transmitting and receiving signals within an electrically conductive structure (170), a method of fabricating the EMAT (100), and a method of generating and detecting acoustic waves in the conductive structure (170) are provided. The EMAT (100) includes a magnetic source for establishing a static magnetic field and a multilayered printed circuit board (PCB) (105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 135) positioned within the magnetic field. The multilayered PCB includes a plurality of coil layers (105, 115), an interconnect layer (125), and a ground plane (135). The number of coil layers (105, 115) employed in the EMAT and the liftoff distance (160) (the distance between the interconnect layer the furthest from the surface (165) of the electrically conductive structure (170) and the surface (165) of the electrically conductive structure (170)) are optimized so as to increase the amplitude of the received signal and to increase the conversion efficiency of the EMAT.