Data acquisition from 2-D transducer arrays has become one of the main challenges for the development of endoscopic and catheter-based 3-D ultrasound imaging devices. Front-end ASICs with sub-array pre-beamforming have been reported that reduce the cable number by an order of magnitude. Further channel reduction requires digitization in the front-end ASIC to facilitate more in-probe data processing functions. Prior solutions, however, are too large and power-hungry to be integrated in a miniature ultrasound probe. In this work, we present a front-end ASIC with an element-pitch-matched layout that combines sub-array beamforming, digitization and high-speed data transmission. It achieves a 36-fold channel-count reduction and a record power-efficiency with less than 1 mW/element power dissipation in receive.

doi.org/10.1109/ULTSYM.2017.8091528, hdl.handle.net/1765/103780
2017 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, IUS 2017
Department of Biomedical Engineering

Chen, C., Chen, Z., Bera, D., Noothout, E., Chang, Z. Y., Vos, R., … Pertijs, M. (2017). A front-end ASIC for miniature 3-D ultrasound probes with in-probe receive digitization. In IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, IUS. doi:10.1109/ULTSYM.2017.8091528