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New non-imaging ultrasound applications, such as ultrasound stimulation and ultrasonic power transfer, need submillimeter volumetric spatial resolution, electronically control of the focal spot location, high ultrasound intensity, and a tiny form factor. Satisfying these requirements demands a high-frequency phased array ultrasound transducer. On the other hand, the pitch size in a phased array must be half of the sound wavelength to avoid grating lobes in the ultrasound beam profile. In other words, higher frequency results in a smaller available area to implement a high-voltage electronics beamforming channel. While prior efforts have reached a maximum frequency of 8.3 MHz, this work utilizes a low area high-voltage level shifter coupled with optimum phase wrapping to present two 15 MHz and 12 MHz pixel-level pitch-matched beamforming channels that deliver 20 V and 36 V to the ultrasound transducer load, respectively. Furthermore, the phase of the output is programmable with 3bits resolution that allows fine control of focal spot location. The proposed beamforming channels have been implemented in 0.18µm BCD technology and consume 960 µA and 1.23 mA from 20 V and 36 V power supplies, respectively.

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