Comparison of high-voltage linear transmitter topologies for ultrasound CMUT applications

In this paper, we present a comparison of high-voltage linear transmitter circuits for driving capacitive micro-machined ultrasound transducers (CMUTs). CMUTs are emerging transducer elements in ultrasound imaging applications. Two different circuit topologies for the high-voltage linear transmitter with a 40 V peak-to-peak output voltage are compared. We compare the two designs based on total harmonic distortion, power consumption, bandwidth and area for same voltage gain. The designs are done in AMS 0.18 μm technology, and utilize Si LDMOS device for a high-voltage output.