An Element-Matched Electromechanical ΔΣ ADC for Ultrasound Imaging

Michele D'Urbino*, Chao Chen, Zhao Chen, Zu-Yao Chang, Jacco Ponte, Boris Lippe, Michiel Pertijs

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
56 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper presents a power- and area-efficient approach to digitizing the echo signals received by piezoelectric transducer elements, commonly used for ultrasound imaging. This technique utilizes such elements not only as sensors but also as the loop filter of an element-level δσ analog to digital converter (ADC). The receiver chain is thus greatly simplified, yielding savings in area and power. Every ADC becomes small enough to fit underneath a 150 μm × 150 μm transducer element, enabling simultaneous acquisition and digitization from all the elements in a 2-D array. This is especially valuable for miniature 3-D probes. Experimental results are reported for a prototype receiver chip with an array of 5×4 element-matched ADCs and a transducer array fabricated on top of the chip. Each ADC consumes 800 μW from a 1.8 V supply and achieves a SNR of 47 dB in a 75% bandwidth around a center frequency of 5 MHz.

Original languageEnglish
Article number8450032
Pages (from-to)2795-2805
Number of pages11
JournalIEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits
Volume53
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Bibliographical note

Accepted Author Manuscript

Keywords

  • bandpass ADC
  • electromechanical filter
  • piezoelectric transducer
  • ultrasound imaging
  • ΔΣ ADC

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