Integrated Circuits for 3D High-Frame-Rate Intracardiac Echocardiography Probes

Abstract

This thesis describes the design of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for high-frame-rate 3D intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) probes. The work follows the whole process from the analysis of the application to the testing of a prototype with all envisioned functionality. It starts with the evaluation of the main challenges posed by ultrasound imaging from the tip of a catheter with a diameter in the order of 3 mm and its implications on the circuit design. A broad literature review in the field of ICE probe development but also regarding general ultrasound electronics provides the basis for this work and motivates later design choices. A high-frame-rate 3D imaging scheme is developed based on the needs of the application and leads to the design targets of the imager array and electronics. The final ASIC architecture is reached over the course of two prototypes to enable the evaluation of block-level functionality and advanced debugging. The thesis provides a detailed description of the circuit implementation with introduced novelties and shows characterization results in the electrical as well as acoustic domain. In the following, the contents of each chapter of the main matter are summarized in one paragraph....