A Power-Optimized Cable Driver for Miniature Ultrasound Probes

• Ultrasound imaging is based on pulse-echo measurements: a transducer sends an acoustic pulse into the medium, after which the resulting echo signals are recorded to render an image. In miniature ultrasound probes (e.g. endoscope- or catheter-based devices), the received echo signals need to be sent across a thin micro-coax cable to an imaging system.
• This project explores the design of a suitable cable driver (MHz bandwidth, >80dB DR), focusing on compact and power-efficient amplifier architectures. An example of an earlier implementation from our group can be found in [1]. In this project, we aim to improve the DR and power efficiency.
• The project includes the design, tape-out and measurement of a prototype chip.

[1] E. Kang, Q. Ding, M. Shabanimotlagh, P. Kruizinga, Z. Y. Chang,E. Noothout, H. J. Vos, J. G. Bosch, M. D. Verweij, N. de Jong, and M. A. P. Pertijs, “A reconfigurable ultrasound transceiver ASIC with 24 x 40 elements for 3D carotid artery imaging,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 53, no. 7, pp. 2065-2075, Jul. 2018.

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Last modified: 2022-02-06