Single-Chip 3072-Element-Channel Transceiver/128-Subarray-Channel 2-D Array IC With Analog RX and All-Digital TX Beamformer for Echocardiography

Igarashi, Yutaka; Kajiyama, Shinya; Katsube, Yusaku; Nishimoto, Tetsuya; Nakagawa, Tatsuo; Okuma, Yasuyuki; Nakamura, Yūichi; Terada, Takahide; Yamawaki, Taizo; Yazaki, Toru; Hayashi, Yoshihiro; Amino, Kazuhiro; Kaneko, Tetsuya; Tanaka, Hiroki

doi:10.1109/jssc.2019.2921697

Cited by 31 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Noting that the majority (83.5%) of the peak power dissipation in the ultrasound system comes from TX [28], a powerefficient TX is crucial for safety [8]. The recurring large power consumption of the TX can cause localized hotspots, which leads to tissue temperature elevation.…”

Section: A Charge-recycling High-voltage Txmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Especially, localized hot spots should be avoided to prevent cell damages [6], [7]. Previous works that integrate a power-consuming transmitter (TX) and centralized analog-to-digital converter (ADC) [8] can cause localized hotspots; therefore, it is more suitable to have each transceiver (TRX) integrated in-pixel to minimize such hot spots. Moreover, the in-pixel TRX design also supports the vertical connection between transducers and the CMOS [9]- [11], which relieves bulky, cumbersome wire connection and parasitic resistance/capacitance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A 36-Channel Auto-Calibrated Front-End ASIC for a pMUT-Based Miniaturized 3-D Ultrasound System

Lee

Eovino

et al. 2021

IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits

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We present an area-and power-efficient applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC) for a miniaturized 3-D ultrasound system. The ASIC is designed to transmit pulse and receive echo through a 36-channel 2-D piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasound Transducer (pMUT) array. The 36-channel ASIC integrates a transmitter (TX), a receiver (RX), and an analog-todigital converter (ADC) within the 250-μm pitch channel while consuming low-power and supporting calibration to compensate for the process variation of the pMUT. The charge-recycling high-voltage TX (CRHV-TX) in standard CMOS generates up to 13.2-V PP pulse while reducing 42.2% peak TX power consumption. Also, each CRHV-TX automatically calibrates excitation voltage according to acoustic pressure of pMUT. The dynamic-bit-shared ADC (DBS-ADC) shares the most significant bits (MSBs) among four channels based on the signal similarity between adjacent channels. The analog front end (AFE) with a received signal sensitivity indicator (RSSI) changes its gain adaptively in real time depending on input signal strength. The ASIC consumes 1.14-mW/channel average power with 1-kHz pulse repetition frequency (PRF) and three TX pulses per cycle. The ASIC in 0.18-μm 1P6M Standard CMOS has been verified with both electrical and acoustic experiments with a 6 × 6 pMUT array.

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Section: A Charge-recycling High-voltage Txmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 36-Channel Auto-Calibrated Front-End ASIC for a pMUT-Based Miniaturized 3-D Ultrasound System

Lee

Eovino

et al. 2021

IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits

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“…As such, attempts to increase the frame rate only in the digital domain have led to the aforementioned drawbacks, resulting in incomplete realtime imaging of the UISs. Nevertheless, not much research has yet been dedicated to AFE ICs in the ultrasound probe [12]- [15] to address the physical limitations in the frame rate of the UISs. In [14], a column-row architecture was employed in the AFE IC to increase the frame rate based on parallel processing with the plane wave; however, this architecture was still limited in terms of increasing the frame rate at a shallow focal depth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A High Frame Rate Analog Front-End IC With Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasound Transducers Using Analog Multi-Line Acquisition for Ultrasound Imaging Systems

et al. 2021

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This paper proposes a high frame rate analog front-end (AFE) IC combined with a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) for ultrasound imaging systems (UISs). The proposed AFE IC, which consists of 8-channel transceivers and a peripheral circuit, employs analog multiline acquisition (AMLA) based on sub-array beamforming. This AMLA generates multiple scanlines during a scan time by simultaneously and precisely controlling the delay of the AFE IC, thus achieving the high frame rate of the AFE IC. The sensitivities of the PMUT for transmitting and receiving ultrasound waves are simulated to be 67.5 kPa/V and 1.2 mV/kPa, respectively, which are high enough to mitigate the needs of the high-voltage electronics for UISs. The proposed AFE IC was fabricated using a 0.18-μm silicon-oninsulator process and occupies an active area of 2.56 mm  1.68 mm. The measurement results using the simulated PMUT parameters show that the proposed AFE IC with the AMLA precisely controls its delay up to 1 μs at a clock frequency of 40 MHz. It also acquires more than 9,000 scan/s even at a focal depth of 150 mm, which is at least twice greater than those of prior works, achieving a high frame rate of 93 Hz when 100 scanlines are used for a frame. In addition, a figure-of-merit, which considers the energy consumption per channel/scan and the energy loss, is achieved to be 20 nJ/scan/dB at a focal depth of 150 mm and a center frequency of 3.6 MHz; this is the best result compared to previously reported works. Therefore, the proposed AFE IC is suitable for UISs requiring a high frame rate.INDEX TERMS Ultrasound imaging system, piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT), analog multi-line acquisition, high frame rate, analog front-end.

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“…Ultrasound imaging systems are widely used for medical diagnosis. A 1D array probe is commonly used to obtain 2D images, but 3D imaging systems with 2D array probes have been used recently to minimize examination time and to make it easier to find a target [1]- [3]. In the conventional 1D probe, a received ultrasound signal is converted into an electrical signal at a transducer array in the handheld probe and usually transmitted to a main unit that has a beamfocusing function as shown in Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Low-Power Current-Reuse LNA for 3D Ultrasound Beamformers

Nakamura

Kajiyama

Igarashi

et al. 2021

IEICE Trans. Fundamentals

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3D ultrasound imagers require low-noise amplifier (LNA) with much lower power consumption and smaller chip area than conventional 2D imagers because of the huge amount of transducer channels. This paper presents a low-power small-size LNA with a novel currentreuse circuitry for 3D ultrasound imaging systems. The proposed LNA is composed of a differential common source amplifier and a source-follower driver which share the current without using inductors. The LNA was fabricated in a 0.18-µm CMOS process with only 0.0056 mm 2 . The measured results show a gain of 21 dB and a bandwidth of 9 MHz. The proposed LNA achieves an average noise density of 11.3 nV/ √ Hz, and the 2nd harmonic distortion below −40 dBc with 0.1-Vpp input. The supply current is 85 µA with a 1.8-V power supply, which is competitive with conventional LNAs by finer CMOS process.

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Single-Chip 3072-Element-Channel Transceiver/128-Subarray-Channel 2-D Array IC With Analog RX and All-Digital TX Beamformer for Echocardiography

Cited by 31 publications

References 9 publications

A 36-Channel Auto-Calibrated Front-End ASIC for a pMUT-Based Miniaturized 3-D Ultrasound System

A 36-Channel Auto-Calibrated Front-End ASIC for a pMUT-Based Miniaturized 3-D Ultrasound System

A High Frame Rate Analog Front-End IC With Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasound Transducers Using Analog Multi-Line Acquisition for Ultrasound Imaging Systems

A Low-Power Current-Reuse LNA for 3D Ultrasound Beamformers

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