A Comparative Analysis of CMUT Receiving Architectures for the Design Optimization of Integrated Transceiver Front Ends

Sautto, Marco; Savoia, Alessandro Stuart; Quaglia, Fabio; Caliano, G.; Mazzanti, Andrea

doi:10.1109/tuffc.2017.2668769

Cited by 32 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Moreover, the measurements were carried out with a high-frequency transducer, suggesting that CMUT are suitable for the development of bi-modality ultrasound systems, as required for the co-registration of ionoacoustic and ultrasound imaging to overlap the dose distribution with the patient anatomy. Current work is devoted to the application of alternative CMUT receiving circuit architectures, such as transimpedance and charge amplifier topologies [7], to optimize signal to noise ratio thus allowing the detection of lower acoustic pressure levels.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applicability of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers for the detection of proton-induced thermoacoustic waves

Lascaud

Kalunga

Lehrack

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS)

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This study investigates the application of broadband capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUT) to ionoacoustics (i.e., the thermoacoustic emissions induced by the energy deposition of ion beam) over a wide frequency range from hundreds of kHz to a few MHz. A water tank was irradiated by a 20 MeV pulsed proton beam. The frequency and amplitude of the ionoacoustic waves were modulated by adding material before to penetrate into the water tank to change the beam energy and its spatial dimensions. The measurements were performed with a 12 MHz CMUT prototype and compared to ones obtained from a commercial 3.5 MHz piezoeletric transducer as well as to in silico studies employing the k-Wave Matlab toolbox in combination with FLUKA Monte Carlo simulations to derive the dose (i.e., energy deposition per mass) and initial pressure distribution. Comparison of the experimental and in silico results show that the CMUT bandwidth is wide enough to measure the signal without any degradation or attenuation of the frequency content in the investigated frequency range, thus ensuring accurate reconstruction of the dose distribution and potential bi-modality system for the co-registration of ionoacoustic and ultrasound imaging.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applicability of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers for the detection of proton-induced thermoacoustic waves

Lascaud

Kalunga

Lehrack

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS)

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“…Table I compares the proposed TIA with the prior art. Compared to commercial LNAs with continuous TGC function [46], [47], >10× lower power consumption is achieved. While some of this difference may be attributed to the proposed circuit architecture, it should be noted that these parts have quite different noise and bandwidth specifications and are not intended for in-probe integration.…”

Section: Acoustical Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Variable-Gain Low-Noise Transimpedance Amplifier for Miniature Ultrasound Probes

Kang

Tan

et al. 2020

IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits

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This article presents a low-noise transimpedance amplifier (TIA) designed for miniature ultrasound probes. It provides continuously variable gain to compensate for the time-dependent attenuation of the received echo signal. This time-gain compensation (TGC) compresses the echo-signal dynamic range (DR) while avoiding imaging artifacts associated with discrete gain steps. Embedding the TGC function in the TIA reduces the output DR, saving power compared to prior solutions that apply TGC after the low-noise amplifier. The TIA employs a capacitive ladder feedback network and a current-steering circuit to obtain a linear-in-dB gain range of 37 dB. A variable-gain loop amplifier based on current-reuse stages maintains constant bandwidth in a power-efficient manner. The TIA has been integrated in a 64-channel ultrasound transceiver applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC) in a 180-nm BCDMOS process and occupies a die area of 0.12 mm 2. It achieves a gain error below ±1 dB and a 1.7 pA/ √ Hz noise floor and consumes 5.2 mW from a ±0.9 V supply. B-mode images of a tissue-mimicking phantom are presented that show the benefits of the TGC scheme. Index Terms-Continuous gain control, time-gaincompensation (TGC), transimpedance amplifier (TIA), ultrasound application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), ultrasound imaging. I. INTRODUCTION U LTRASOUND imaging is a safe and cost-effective tool for the diagnosis of medical conditions and the guidance of treatment. Size reduction of imaging devices has enabled ultrasound imaging from the tip of an mm-size catheter, for instance, for intracardiac echocardiography (ICE), as illustrated in Fig. 1(a) [1], [2]. Applications of ICE probes include guidance and monitoring of catheter ablation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation, guidance of closure of atrial septal defects, and guidance of transcatheter valve implantation [3], [4].

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“…The transistor sizes of M6 and M9 are selected considering the static current of 288 A during Rx period, layout size, and ON-resistanceof the Tx/Rx switch. Depending on the type of amplifier, such as resistive feedback or capacitive feedback (low input impedance stage), the optimal size of transistors could be different [27].…”

Section: Design and Operation Of Tx/rx Switchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supply-Inverted Bipolar Pulser and Tx/Rx Switch for CMUTs Above the Process Limit for High Pressure Pulse Generation

et al. 2019

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A combined supply-inverted bipolar pulser and a Tx/Rx switch is proposed to drive capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs). The supply-inverted bipolar pulser adopts a bootstrap circuit combined with stacked transistors, which guarantees high voltage (HV) operation above the process limit without lowering device reliability. This circuit generates an output signal with a peak-to-peak voltage that is almost twice the supply level. It generates a bipolar pulse with only positive supply voltages. The Tx/Rx switch adopts a diode-bridge structure with the protection scheme dedicated to this proposed pulser. A proof-of-concept ASIC prototype has been implemented in 0.18-m HV CMOS/DMOS technology with 60 V devices. Measurement results show that the proposed pulser can safely generate a bipolar pulse of-34.6 to 45 V, from a single 45 V supply voltage. The Tx/Rx switch blocks the HV bipolar pulse, resulting in less than 1.6 V at the input of the receiver. Acoustic measurements are performed connecting the pulser to CMUTs with 2 pF capacitance and 8 MHz center frequency. The variation of acoustic output pressures for different pulse shapes were simulated with the large signal CMUT model and compared with the experimental results for transmit pressure optimization. A potential implementation of the methods using MEMS fabrication methods is also described. Index Terms-Pulser, capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT), medical ultrasound imaging, Tx/Rx switch, ASIC, large signal model. I. INTRODUCTION apacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT) has been shown to be a viable alternative to conventional piezoelectric sensors and transducers in ultrasound diagnostic Manuscript

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A Comparative Analysis of CMUT Receiving Architectures for the Design Optimization of Integrated Transceiver Front Ends

Cited by 32 publications

References 29 publications

Applicability of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers for the detection of proton-induced thermoacoustic waves

Applicability of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers for the detection of proton-induced thermoacoustic waves

A Variable-Gain Low-Noise Transimpedance Amplifier for Miniature Ultrasound Probes

Supply-Inverted Bipolar Pulser and Tx/Rx Switch for CMUTs Above the Process Limit for High Pressure Pulse Generation

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