A front-end ASIC for miniature 3-D ultrasound probes with in-probe receive digitization

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.

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