Three-dimensional ultrasonic imaging with a fully populated 128×128 array

Experimental System Prototype of a Portable, Low-Cost, C-Scan Ultrasound Imaging Device

“…The grating lobe and channel loss issues can be addressed through an improved interconnect approach providing smaller transducer element pitch and increased channel count. By designing receive electronics ICs with a channel pitch that corresponds to the transducer element pitch, a flip-chip interconnect scheme is possible, providing a straightforward connection between transducer elements and receive channels with little or no routing [8], [30], [31], [41], [42]. If DSIQ beamforming is used, digitization and memory can be brought on-chip along with the front-end receive electronics, enabling the simultaneous capture of all the complex data needed to form a C-scan image-a simple depth control would vary the timing of the global S/H clock signals.…”

“…A number of researchers have recently implemented frontend receive electronics on custom ICs for applications such as real-time 3-D imaging [29], intravascular ultrasound [30], [31], intra-oral ultrasound [32], high-frequency annular arrays [33], and portable ultrasound [6], [8], [34]. We designed a custom IC containing 64 analog front-end receive channels implemented in a standard TSMC 0.35-m CMOS process available through the MOSIS Integrated Circuit Fabrication Service (Marina del Rey, CA).…”