Ultrasonic device

Abstract

An ultrasonic device is disclosed that includes a single solid-state semiconductor wafer. The following components are formed on the wafer: a plurality of ultrasound elements including first and second ultrasound elements, the first ultrasound element having at least one first CMUT and the second ultrasound element having at least one second CMUT; a first programmable waveform generator that provides a first ultrasonic waveform to the first CMUT and has configurable operating parameters; a second programmable waveform generator providing a second ultrasonic waveform to the second CMUT and having configurable operating parameters; a controller that controls values of the first configurable operating parameter and the second configurable operating parameter; a first ADC which converts the analog signal provided by the first ultrasonic element into a digital signal; a second ADC which converts the analog signal provided by the second ultrasonic element into a digital signal; a digital serial communication module that transmits a serial digital data stream from the ultrasound device to an external device, the serial digital data stream including digital signals from the first and second ADCs.

Description

[0001] This application is the branch of the invention patent application with the international application number PCT / US2014 / 025567, the Chinese application number 201480027920.0, the application date is March 13, 2014, and the invention name is "single-chip ultrasonic imaging device, system and method". case application. [0002] Cross References to Related Applications [0003] Attorney Docket No. B1348.70006US00 filed March 15, 2013 pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e) and entitled "MONOLITHIC ULTRASONIC IMAGING DEVICES, SYSTEMS AND METHODS method)", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. technical field [0004] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to devices, systems, and methods for imaging and / or therapy (eg, ultrasound imaging and / or processing techniques). For example, certain aspects of the architecture and techniques disclosed herein enable the integration of an entire ultrasound imaging system on a single semiconductor substrate. Accor...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, ultrasound imaging solutions using CMUT arrays proposed so far employ conventional architectures and signal processing paradigms, and thus suffer from severe limitations and drawbacks

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