A column-row-parallel ultrasound imaging architecture for 3d plane-wave imaging and Tx 2nd-order harmonic distortion (HD2) reduction

We propose a Column-Row-Parallel (CRP) architecture for integrated and low-power 3D medical ultrasound imaging applications. CRP offers linear-scaling interconnection, acquisition and programming time, while supporting rich functionality and fault-tolerance against possible transducer element defects. A 16×16 CMUT-ASIC CRP imaging system is fabricated and assembled to demonstrate the highly versatile architecture. 3D plane-wave coherent compounding on CRP facilitates fast frame rate (62.5 volume/s), high quality 3D ultrasonic imaging. An interleaved checker board pattern with I&Q excitations is also demonstrated on CRP for tissue harmonic imaging, reducing CMUT 2nd harmonic distortion (HD2) emission by over 20dB.