Abstract
Integrated front-end electronics are an important enabler for advanced miniature ultrasound devices, such as catheter-based devices capable of providing real-time 3D images to guide interventions, and wearable ultrasound devices for new monitoring and diagnostic applications. Without integrated electronics, the number of transducer elements is limited by the number of cables that can be accommodated. Moreover, signal quality is degraded when small transducer elements have to drive the relatively long cables connecting them to an imaging system. Front-end electronics integrated close to the transducer can provide local pulsing, amplification, channel-count reduction, and echo-signal digitization, eventually paving the way towards probes with fully-digital interfaces. This talk gives an overview of the associated challenges and opportunities, and illustrates the potential of in-probe electronics by means of examples of state-of-the-art designs featuring transducer-on-CMOS integration and pitch-matched circuits for high-voltage pulsing, beamforming and digitization.
