Tiled Large Element 1.75D Aperture with Dual Array Modules by Adjacent Integration of PIN-PMN-PT Transducers and Custom High Voltage Switching ASICs

Tiled large aperture 1.75D/2D transducer arrays with closely integrated ASIC electronics have the potential for implementing high channel count ultrasound probes for novel applications, however they must have high yield for a large number of elements to maintain good image quality. This constraint can be addressed by tiling together a number of smaller array modules to build up the larger aperture. In this work we present recent imaging results for large apertures with multiple tiled array modules integrating 2D arrays of wide bandwidth PIN-PMN-PT 1-3 composite piezo elements with custom-designed ASICs for buffering and multiplexing functions. The ASICs are optimized to obtain increased sensitivity of the high impedance 2D elements using buffering. We have also been developing novel second-generation ASICs to mitigate the effects of switching transients observed while imaging with the first-generation devices.