Integrated Ultrasound Pulser for NDT Applications

Non-destructive testing (NDT) using ultrasound (US) is crucial for inspecting nuclear power plant components, including the reactor pressure vessel. Current implementations result in a high cable count system with complex extended routing, which necessitates the development of highly integrated solutions. A novel high-voltage (HV) pulser application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) was designed, manufactured, and tested as a critical component in a modular multi-element NDT system and is discussed in this paper. A pulser channel occupied $\mathbf{0.0975}\ \mathbf{mm}^{\mathbf{2}}$ and exhibited $\mathbf{276}\ \boldsymbol{\mu} \mathbf{W}$ power consumption from 1.8 V and 5.5 V supplies. The circuit was electrically characterized using a variety of loads and measured in a pulse-echo test with a commercial two-element ultrasound transducer. The results validated the proposed architecture with a 5 MHz transducer, and pulse generation up to 29 MHz was demonstrated with various capacitive loads. The presented design can serve as a means of achieving a tightly integrated system for better reliability and reduced-cost NDT tests.