title: Front-end receiver electronics for a matrix transducer for 3-D transesophageal echocardiography.
abstract: There is a clear clinical need for creating 3-D images of the heart. One promising technique is the use of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). To enable 3-D TEE, we are developing a miniature ultrasound probe containing a matrix piezoelectric transducer with more than 2000 elements. Because a gastroscopic tube cannot accommodate the cables needed to connect all transducer elements directly to an imaging system, a major challenge is to locally reduce the number of channels, while maintaining a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio. This can be achieved by using front-end receiver electronics bonded to the transducers to provide appropriate signal conditioning in the tip of the probe. This paper presents the design of such electronics, realizing time-gain compensation (TGC) and micro-beamforming using simple, low-power circuits. Prototypes of TGC amplifiers and micro-beamforming cells have been fabricated in 0.35-μm CMOS technology. These prototype chips have been combined on a printed circuit board (PCB) to form an ultrasound-receiver system capable of reading and combining the signals of three transducer elements. Experimental results show that this design is a suitable candidate for 3-D TEE.
authors: Electronic Instrumentation Lab, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. z.yu@tudelft.nl
authors: Zili
authors: Z
authors: Yu
authors: Sandra
authors: S
authors: Blaak
authors: Zu-yao
authors: ZY
authors: Chang
authors: Jiajian
authors: J
authors: Yao
authors: Johan G
authors: JG
authors: Bosch
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Prins
authors: Charles T
authors: CT
authors: Lancée
authors: Nico
authors: N
authors: de Jong
authors: Michiel A P
authors: MA
authors: Pertijs
authors: Gerard C M
authors: GC
authors: Meijer
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004581:Electronics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014159:Transducers