P0-18 Forward-Looking IVUS Imaging Using a Dual-Annular Ring CMUT Array: Experimental Results

This paper presents the experimental results on forward-looking intravascular ultrasound (FL-IVUS) using dual- annular-ring CMUT arrays. The array has a diameter of 1mm including bondpads which consists of separate, concentric 24 transmit and 32 receive ring arrays built on the same silicon substrate. This configuration has the potential for independent optimization of each array and uses the silicon area more effectively without any drawback. For imaging experiments, we designed and constructed a custom integrated circuit using a standard 0.5mum CMOS process for data acquisition. A sample pulse-echo signal received from the oil-air interface (plane reflector) at 6 mm had a center frequency of 11 MHz with 95*% fractional 6-dB bandwidth. The measured SNR of the echo was 24 dB with no averaging. B-scan image of a wire-phantom was generated to test the resolution.