A CMOS High-Voltage Transmitter IC for Ultrasound Medical Imaging Applications

A high-voltage (HV) transmitter integrated circuit for ultrasound medical imaging applications is implemented using 0.18-$\mu\hbox{m}$ bipolar/CMOS/DMOS technology. The proposed HV transmitter achieves high integration by only employing standard CMOS transistors in a stacked configuration with dynamic gate biasing circuit while successfully driving the capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer device immersed in an oil environment without breakdown reliability issues. The HV transmitter including the output driver and the voltage level shifters generates over 10-$ \hbox{V}_{p-p}$ pulses at 1.25-MHz frequency and occupies only 0.022 $\hbox{mm}^{2}$ of core die area.