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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We report a fast time-domain model of fluid-coupled cMUTs developed to predict the transient response-i.e., the impulse pressure response--of an element of a linear 1-D array. Mechanical equations of the cMUT diaphragm are solved with 2-D finite-difference schemes. The time-domain solving method is a fourth--order Runge-Kutta algorithm. The model takes into account the electrostatic nonlinearity and the contact with the bottom electrode when the membrane is collapsed. Mutual acoustic coupling between cells is introduced through the numerical implementation of analytical solutions of the impulse diffraction theory established in the case of acoustic sources with rectangular geometry. Processing times are very short: they vary from a few minutes for a single cell to a maximum of 30 min for one element of an array. After a description of the model, the impact of the nonlinearity and the pull-in/pull-out phenomena on the dynamic behavior of the cMUT diaphragm is discussed. Experimental results of mechanical displacements obtained by interferometric measurements and the acoustic pressure field are compared with simulations. Different excitation signals-high-frequency bandwidth pulses and toneburst excitations of varying central frequency-were chosen to compare theory with experimental results.