Arama Sonuçları

Listeleniyor 1 - 8 / 8
  • Yayın
    CMUT-based volumetric ultrasonic imaging array design for forward looking ICE and IVUS applications
    (SPIE-Int Soc Optical Engineering, 2013) Tekeş, Coşkun; Zahorian, Jaime S.; Xu, Toby; Rashid, Muhammad Wasequr; Satır, Sarp; Gürün, Gökçe; Karaman, Mustafa; Hasler, Jennifer Olson; Değertekin, Fahrettin Levent
    Designing a mechanically flexible catheter based volumetric ultrasonic imaging device for intravascular and intracardiac imaging is challenging due to small transducer area and limited number of cables. With a few parallel channels, synthetic phased array processing is necessary to acquire data from a large number of transducer elements. This increases the data collection time and hence reduces frame rate and causes artifacts due to tissue-transducer motion. Some of these drawbacks can be resolved by different array designs offered by CMUT-on-CMOS approach. We recently implemented a 2.1-mm diameter single chip 10 MHz dual ring CMUT-on-CMOS array for forward looking ICE with 64-transmit and 56-receive elements along with associated electronics. These volumetric arrays have the small element size required by high operating frequencies and achieve sub mm resolution, but the system would be susceptible to motion artifacts. To enable real time imaging with high SNR, we designed novel arrays consisting of multiple defocused annular rings for transmit aperture and a single ring receive array. The annular transmit rings are utilized to act as a high power element by focusing to a virtual ring shaped line behind the aperture. In this case, image reconstruction is performed by only receive beamforming, reducing total required firing steps from 896 to 14 with a trade-off in image resolution. The SNR of system is improved more than 5 dB for the same frequency and frame rate as compared to the dual ring array, which can be utilized to achieve the same resolution by increasing the operating frequency.
  • Yayın
    Evaluation of CMUT annular arrays for side-looking IVUS
    (IEEE, 2009) Şişman, Alper; Zahorian, Jaime S.; Gürün, Gökçe; Karaman, Mustafa; Balantekin, Müjdat; Değertekin, Fahrettin Levent; Hasler, Paul E.
    Side-looking (SL) IVUS probes are extensively used for management of cardiovascular diseases. Currently SL-IVUS imaging probes use either a single rotating transducer element or solid-state arrays. Probes with single rotating piezoelectric transducer have simple front-end, but have fixed focused operation, and suffers from motion artifacts. Solid-state SL-IVUS imaging probes use piezoelectric transducer arrays and electronic beam-forming. Synthetic phased array processing of signals detected with small-sized elements in these arrays limits the SNR achievable with these probes. In this study, we explore a new SL-IVUS probe architecture employing rotating phased annular CMUT arrays. We tested and compared imaging performance of the existing and proposed probe configurations through simulated point spread functions. We also two fabricated sample annular array designs operating at 20-MHz and 50-MHz. Our experimental measurements on the 20-MHz array in oil shows 105% fractional bandwidth. The 50-MHz array with parylene coating shows approximately 40% fractional bandwidth measured in water. We also present imaging results acquired from wire-targets to test the experimental point-spread functions.
  • Yayın
    Monolithic CMUT-on-CMOS integration for intravascular ultrasound applications
    (IEEE-INST Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc, 2011-12) Zahorian, Jaime S.; Hochman, Michael; Xu, Toby; Satır, Sarp; Gürün, Gökçe; Karaman, Mustafa; Değertekin, Fahrettin Levent
    One of the most important promises of capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) technology is integration with electronics. This approach is required to minimize the parasitic capacitances in the receive mode, especially in catheter-based volumetric imaging arrays, for which the elements must be small. Furthermore, optimization of the available silicon area and minimized number of connections occurs when the CMUTs are fabricated directly above the associated electronics. Here, we describe successful fabrication and performance evaluation of CMUT arrays for intravascular imaging on custom-designed CMOS receiver electronics from a commercial IC foundry. The CMUT-on-CMOS process starts with surface isolation and mechanical planarization of the CMOS electronics to reduce topography. The rest of the CMUT fabrication is achieved by modifying a low-temperature micromachining process through the addition of a single mask and developing a dry etching step to produce sloped sidewalls for simple and reliable CMUT-to-CMOS interconnection. This CMUT-to-CMOS interconnect method reduced the parasitic capacitance by a factor of 200 when compared with a standard wire-bonding method. Characterization experiments indicate that the CMUT-on-CMOS elements are uniform in frequency response and are similar to CMUTs simultaneously fabricated on standard silicon wafers without electronics integration. Experiments on a 1.6-mm-diameter dual-ring CMUT array with a center frequency of 15 MHz show that both the CMUTs and the integrated CMOS electronics are fully functional. The SNR measurements indicate that the performance is adequate for imaging chronic total occlusions located 1 cm from the CMUT array.
  • Yayın
    Annular CMUT arrays for side looking intravascular ultrasound imaging
    (IEEE, 2007) Zahorian, Jaime; Güldiken, Rasim Oytun; Gürün, Gökçe; Qureshi, Muhammad Shakeel; Balantekin, Müjdat; Değertekin, Fahrettin Levent; Carlier, Stephane; Şişman, Alper; Karaman, Mustafa
    Although side looking intravascular ultrasound (SL-IVUS) imaging systems using single element piezoelectric transducers set the resolution standard in the assessment of the extent of coronary artery disease, improvements in transducer performance are needed to perform harmonic imaging and high resolution imaging of vulnerable plaque. With their small channel count; annular arrays exploiting the inherent broad bandwidth of CMUTs and electronic focusing capability of integrated electronics provide a path for desired SL-IVUS imaging catheters. In this paper, we first describe the design, low temperature fabrication of an 8401 mu m diameter, 8 element CMUT annular array. Testing of the individual elements in oil shows a uniform device behavior with 100% fractional bandwidth around 20MHz without including the effects of attenuation and diffraction. We also present linear scan imaging results obtained on wire targets in oil, tissue and tissue mimicking phantoms using both unfocused and dynamically focused transducers. The results for axial and lateral resolution are in agreement predicted by the simulations and show the feasibility of this approach for high resolution SL-IVUS imaging.
  • Yayın
    Annular-ring CMUT arrays for forward-looking IVUS: Transducer characterization and imaging
    (IEEE, 2006-02) Değertekin, Fahrettin Levent; Güldiken, Rasim Oytun; Karaman, Mustafa
    In this study, a 64-element, 1.15-mm diameter annular-ring capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) array was characterized and used for forward-looking intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging tests. The array was manufactured using low-temperature processes suitable for CMOS electronics integration oil a single chip. The measured radiation pattern of a 43 X 140- mu m(2) array element depicts a 40 degrees view angle for forward-looking imaging around a 15-MHz center frequency in agreement with theoretical models. Pulse-echo measurements show a -10-dB fractional bandwidth of 104% around 17 MHz for wire targets 2.5 mm away from the array in vegetable oil. For imaging and SNR measurements, RF A-scan data sets from various targets were collected using all interconnect scheme forming a 32-element array configuration. An experimental point spread function was obtained and compared with simulated and theoretical array responses, showing good agreement. Therefore, this study demonstrates that annular-ring CMUT arrays fabricated with CMOS-compatible processes are capable of forward-looking IVUS imaging, and the developed modeling tools can be used to design improved IVUS imaging arrays.
  • Yayın
    Dual electrode capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer array for 1-D intracardiac echocardiography (ICE)
    (American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2007) Güldiken, Rasim Oytun; Zahorian, Jaime S.; Karaman, Mustafa; Değertekin, Fahrettin Levent
    We designed and fabricated a 64 element 1-D linear dual electrode Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT) array operating at 9.5 MHz for Intracardiac Echocardiography (ICE). The dual electrode CMUT structure increases the overall sensitivity by 12.6dB (6.2dB in receive sensitivity; 6.4dB in output pressure) when compared to optimized single electrode CMUT. We report peak output pressure of 2.3MPa on the CMUT surface when 170V AC and 180V DC is applied. This significant performance increase makes the CMUT more competitive with their piezoelectric counterparts.
  • Yayın
    Micromachined capacitive transducer arrays for intravascular ultrasound
    (SPIE, 2005) Değertekin, Fahrettin Levent; Güldiken, Rasim Oytun; Karaman, Mustafa
    Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging has become an essential imaging modality for the effective diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases during the past decade enabled by innovative applications of piezoelectric transducer technology. The limitations in the manufacture and performance of the same piezoelectric transducers have also impeded the improvement of IVUS for emerging clinically important applications such as forward viewing arrays for guiding interventions and high resolution imaging of arterial structure such as vulnerable plaque and fibrous cap, and also implementation of techniques such as harmonic imaging of the tissue and of the contrast agents. Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) technology shows great potential for transforming IVUS not only to satisfy these clinical needs but also to open up possibilities for low-cost imaging devices integrated to therapeutic tools. We have developed manufacturing processes with a maximum process temperature of 250°C to build CMUTs on the same silicon chip with integrated electronics. Using these processes we fabricated CMUT arrays suitable for forward viewing IVUS in the 10-20MHz range. We characterized these array elements in terms of pulse-echo response, radiation pattern measurements and demonstrated its volumetric imaging capabilities on various imaging targets.
  • Yayın
    Multiple annular ring capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays for forward-looking intravascular ultrasound imaging catheters
    (American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2007) Güldiken, Rasim Oytun; Zahorian, Jaime S.; Balantekin, Müjdat; Karaman, Mustafa; Değertekin, Fahrettin Levent
    We investigate multiple-annular-ring CMUT array configuration for forward-looking intravascular ultrasound (FL-IVUS) imaging. This configuration has the potential for independent optimization of each ring and uses the silicon area more effectively without any particular drawback. We designed and fabricated a sample 1mm diameter dual annular ring CMUT test array which consists of 24 transmit and 32 receive elements. For imaging experiments, we designed IC chips that contain 8 transimpedance amplifiers, a multiplexer and a buffer. The real time-pulse echo experiments obtained with designed IC electronics show 26dB Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) from a 3.5 mm away aluminum reflector in oil. This paper presents our first efforts in obtaining real time imaging with designed IC chips which is one step before CMUT on CMOS implementation.