Title:  Electronics Design for High Density CMUT Array Based Ultrasound Imaging System

Committee: 

Dr. Ghovanloo, DegertekinAdvisor 

Dr. Inan, Chair

Dr. SabraHasler, Co-advisor

Abstract: The objective of the proposed research is to successfully design and implement front end circuits for high density, high element count Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasound Transducer (CMUT) array based ultrasound imaging systems. In ultrasound imaging catheter applications, gathering the data from large number of element transducer arrays is extremely challenging with standard interconnect and transducer technology as there is a restriction on cable count due to the diameter of the catheter. This research work explores the design of the CMOS receiver circuitry which implements a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) scheme to address the receive cable restrictions of the catheter and, using a direct digital demultiplexing technique, allow for a reduction in the number of analog signal processing stages required. We also explore an on chip programmable transmit beamformer circuit which can reduce the cable requirement for producing focused beams.