A front-End ASIC for Miniature 3-D Ultrasound Probes with In-Probe Receive Digitization

Chao Chen*, Zhao Chen, Deep Bera, Emile Noothout, Zuyao Chang, Hendrik Vos, Johan Bosch, Martin Verweij, Nico De Jong, Michiel Pertijs

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper presents a front-end application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that demonstrates the feasibility of inprobe digitization for next-generation miniature 3-D ultrasound probes with acceptable power- and area-efficiency. The proposed design employs a low-power charge-domain ADC that is directly merged with the sample-and-hold delay lines in each subarray, and high-speed datalinks at the ASIC periphery to realize an additional channel-count reduction compared to prior work based on analog subarray beamforming. The 4.8 × 2 mm2 ASIC, which has a compact layout element-matched to a 5-MHz 150-μm-pitch PZT matrix transducer, achieves an overall 36-fold channel-count reduction and a state-of-the-art power-efficiency with less than 1 mW/element power dissipation while receiving, which is acceptable even when scaled up to a 1000-element probe. The prototype ASIC has been fabricated in a 0.18 μm CMOS process. Its functionality has been successfully evaluated with both electrical and acoustical measurements.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2017 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS)
PublisherIEEE
Pages1-4
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-5386-3383-0
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Event2017 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium - Washington, DC, United States
Duration: 6 Sept 20179 Sept 2017
http://ewh.ieee.org/conf/ius/2017/

Conference

Conference2017 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium
Abbreviated titleIUS 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityWashington, DC
Period6/09/179/09/17
Internet address

Keywords

  • 2-D PZT matrix
  • Frond-End ASIC
  • In-probe Digitization
  • Low-power ADC
  • Miniature 3-D Ultrasound probe
  • Subarray Beamforming

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A front-End ASIC for Miniature 3-D Ultrasound Probes with In-Probe Receive Digitization'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this