25.8 Gb/s Submillimeter Optical Data Link Module for Smart Catheters

The digitization of smart catheters will dramatically increase the demand for reliable and high data transmission in the distal tips. Optical fiber is a good candidate to provide high-speed data transmission. However, the extremely small size of the smart catheter tip, with less than a few millimeters in diameter, hampers the integration of...

Cavity‐box soi: Advanced silicon substrate with pre‐patterned box for monolithic mems fabrication

Several Silicon on Insulator (SOI) wafer manufacturers are now offering products with customer‐defined cavities etched in the handle wafer, which significantly simplifies the fabrication of MEMS devices such as pressure sensors. This paper presents a novel cavity buried oxide (BOX) SOI substrate (cavity‐BOX) that contains a patterned BOX...

Embedded High-Density Trench Capacitors for Smart Catheters

Our work presents embedded high-density oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) trench capacitors for power supply decoupling in the next generation of smart catheters. These millimeter-scale smart catheters are using a novel integration platform, Flex-to-Rigid (F2R). In the F2R platform, various functional modules are fabricated or assembled on thin silicon...

Pressure measurement of geometrically curved ultrasound transducer array for spatially specific stimulation of the vagus nerve

Vagus nerve stimulators currently on the market can treat epilepsy and depression. Recent clinical trials show the potential for vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) to treat epilepsy, autoimmune disease, and traumatic brain injury. As we explore the benefits of VNS, it is expected that more possibilities for a new treatment will emerge in the future....

A Platform for Mechano(-Electrical) Characterization of Free-Standing Micron-Sized Structures and Interconnects

A device for studying the mechanical and electrical behavior of free-standing micro-fabricated metal structures, subjected to a very large deformation, is presented in this paper. The free-standing structures are intended to serve as interconnects in high-density, highly stretchable electronic circuits. For an easy, damage-free handling and...

A CMOS Readout Circuit for Resistive Transducers Based on Algorithmic Resistance and Power Measurement

This paper reports a readout circuit capable of accurately measuring not only the resistance of a resistive transducer, but also the power dissipated in it, which is a critical parameter in thermal flow sensors or thermal-conductivity sensors. A front-end circuit, integrated in a standard CMOS technology, sets the voltage drop across the...

Tiles CMUT dies with pitch uniformity

A large aperture CMUT transducer array is formed of a plurality of adjacently located tiles of CMUT cells. The adjacent edges of the tiles are formed by an anisotropic etch process, preferably a deep reactive ion etching process which is capable of cutting through the die and its substrate while maintaining vertical edges in close proximity to...

Intravascular Ultrasound at the Tip of a Guidewire: Concept and First Assembly Steps

Minimally invasive surgery of the most lethal disease worldwide, coronary artery disease, benefits from better diagnostic tools during the treatment. With this in mind, a novel concept is introduced for intravascular ultrasound on a 360 μm diameter guidewire. The complex manufacture of this medical instrument, and other devices that require...

Ultrasonic transducer chip assembly, ultrasound probe, ultrasonic imaging system and ultrasound assembly and probe manufacturing methods

Disclosed is an ultrasonic transducer assembly comprising an ultrasonic transducer chip (100) having a main surface comprising a plurality of ultrasound transducer elements (112) and a plurality of first contacts (120) for connecting to said ultrasound transducer elements; a contact chip (400) having a further main surface comprising a plurality...

Ultrasound transducer assembly and method for manufacturing an ultrasound transducer assembly

The present invention relates to an ultrasound transducer assembly (10), in particular for intravascular ultrasound systems. The ultrasound transducer assembly comprises at least one silicon substrate element (30) including an ultrasound transducer element (14) for emitting and receiving ultrasound waves and including electrical connectors for...

Miniaturized Optical Data Link Assembly for 360 um Guidewires

We propose a novel concept for a high-speed optical data link in Ø 360 µm cardiovascular interventional imaging guidewires. The concept is based on the recently introduced Flex-to-Rigid (F2R) technology platform. This technology allows for smaller intravascular imaging devices with a more compact form-factor. We extended the existing F2R...

Vacuum testing of a micropropulsion system based on solid propellant cool gas generators

The number of micro and nano satellite projects is expanding. Main focus is on providing these small satellites with the same capabilities as today's larger satellites. In the field of propulsion, efforts are on miniaturization of the on-board propulsion system. This though presents major challenges to the designers. TNO Defence, Security and...

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