A Class-E high-voltage pulse generator for ultrasound medical imaging applications

Abstract A Class-E high-voltage IC pulse generator which can be employed in front-end transducers for MEMS ultrasound medical imaging applications is investigated in this paper. The high drain-to-source voltage stress is reduced by the employment of the self-biased cascode configuration. Experimental IC measurement results demonstrate that the self-biased cascode configuration can generate over 36-V high voltage pulses with a 5-Vpp input triggering signal from a 5-V supply voltage at a broad range of output capacitive loads for 32-MHz MEMS ultrasound transducer.

[1]  M. Nakaoka,et al.  Inductor snubber-assisted series resonant ZCS-PFM high frequency inverter link DC-DC converter with voltage multiplier , 2002, Proceedings of the Power Conversion Conference-Osaka 2002 (Cat. No.02TH8579).

[2]  Hao Yu,et al.  High-voltage pulser for ultrasound medical imaging applications , 2011, 2011 International Symposium on Integrated Circuits.

[3]  D. Cranston,et al.  High intensity focused ultrasound: surgery of the future? , 2003, The British journal of radiology.

[4]  Steve Hung-Lung Tu.  Analysis and design of power-controllable CMOS class E RF-tuned power amplifiers , 2012 .

[5]  J. K. Poulsen.  Low loss wideband protection circuit for high frequency ultrasound , 1999, 1999 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium. Proceedings. International Symposium (Cat. No.99CH37027).

[6]  Frederick H. Raab,et al.  Effects of circuit variations on the class E tuned power amplifier , 1978 .

[7]  J.W. Hunt,et al.  The design of protection circuitry for high-frequency ultrasound imaging systems , 1991, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[8]  Dongning Zhao,et al.  A 30-V transmitter front-end IC for ultrasound medical imaging applications , 2013, Microelectron. J..

[9]  Ke-Vin Chang,et al.  Basis of Shoulder Nerve Entrapment Syndrome: An Ultrasonographic Study Exploring Factors Influencing Cross-Sectional Area of the Suprascapular Nerve , 2018, Front. Neurol..

[10]  A. Bozkurt,et al.  Design of a front-end integrated circuit for 3D acoustic imaging using 2D CMUT arrays , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[11]  Meaghan A. O'Reilly,et al.  A PVDF Receiver for Ultrasound Monitoring of Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Therapy , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[12]  Ke-Vin Chang,et al.  Association between metabolic syndrome and limb muscle quantity and quality in older adults: a pilot ultrasound study , 2019, Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapy.

[13]  H. Alan Mantooth,et al.  Design technique of an on-chip, high-voltage charge pump in SOI , 2005, 2005 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

[14]  Hyouk-Kyu Cha.  CMOS ultrasonic analogue front-end with reconfigurable pulser/switch for medical imaging applications , 2015 .

[15]  Frederick H. Raab,et al.  Idealized operation of the class E tuned power amplifier , 1977 .

[16]  Marian K. Kazimierczuk,et al.  Effects of the collector current fall time on the class E tuned power amplifier , 1983 .

[17]  Jinhong Yuan,et al.  Effect of collector current exponential decay on power efficiency for class E tuned power amplifier , 1994 .

[18]  Mohamad Sawan,et al.  Fully Integrated High-Voltage Front-End Interface for Ultrasonic Sensing Applications , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers.

[19]  Hyouk-Kyu Cha,et al.  A 15-V Bidirectional Ultrasound Interface Analog Front-End IC for Medical Imaging Using Standard CMOS Technology , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs.

[20]  N. O. Sokal,et al.  Harmonic output of class-E RF power amplifiers and load coupling network design , 1977 .

[21]  Marian K. Kazimierczuk,et al.  Exact analysis of class E tuned power amplifier at any Q and switch duty cycle , 1987 .

[22]  Anantha P. Chandrakasan,et al.  Ultrasonic imaging front-end design for CMUT: A 3-level 30Vpp pulse-shaping pulser with improved efficiency and a noise-optimized receiver , 2012, 2012 IEEE Asian Solid State Circuits Conference (A-SSCC).

[23]  Carlos Christoffersen,et al.  Class-DE Ultrasound Transducer Driver for HIFU Therapy , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems.

[24]  C. Toumazou,et al.  Effect of the loaded quality factor on power efficiency for CMOS class-E RF tuned power amplifiers , 1999 .

[25]  C.-H. Li,et al.  Maximum frequency and optimum performance of class E power amplifiers , 1994 .

[26]  Kullervo Hynynen,et al.  Driving Circuitry for Focused Ultrasound Noninvasive Surgery and Drug Delivery Applications , 2011, Sensors.

[27]  M. Kazimierczuk,et al.  Resonant Power Converters , 1995 .

[28]  No Sokal,et al.  CLASS-E - NEW CLASS OF HIGH-EFFICIENCY TUNED SINGLE-ENDED SWITCHING POWER AMPLIFIERS , 1975 .