Integration of Two-Dimensional MEMS Ultrasonic Transducer Arrays with Front-End Electronics for Medical Ultrasound Imaging

摘要

Electrostatically actuated MEMS ultrasonic transducers, also known as Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUTs), offer better performance with respect to conventional piezoelectric transducers in terms of bandwidth and efficiency. The enhanced compatibility between MEMS and standard integrated circuit technologies enables the integration of the transducer and the front-end electronics, and is currently leveraged in the development of new-generation diagnostic systems for clinical, emergency and point-of-care uses. This paper reports on the development of an integrated 2-D CMUT array designed for volumetric ultrasound imaging. An acoustically optimized 3-D packaging technology has been applied to the design, fabrication and characterization of a Multi-Chip Module (MCM) obtained by 3-D interconnection of a 256-element CMUT spiral array and a 256-channel analog front-end Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) with integrated pulsers, low-noise receivers and a programmable TX beamformer.