Pitch-Matched Integrated Transceiver Circuits for High-Resolution 3-D Neonatal Brain Monitoring

This thesis presents the design and implementation of integrated ultrasound transceivers for use in transfontanelle ultrasonography (TFUS). Two generations of ultrasound transceiver ASICs integrated with PZT transducer arrays intended for TFUS are presented. In the first generation, a novel AFE design that combines an LNA with the continuous TGC...

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

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...

Advanced Measurement Techniques and Circuits for Array-Based Transit-Time Ultrasonic Flow Meters

This thesis describes the design, prototyping and evaluation of matrix-based clamp-on ultrasonic flow meters. Several new measurement techniques are presented as well as an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) designed for accurate measurement of flow velocity with matrix transducers.<br/><br/>The influence of circuit topologies on the...

Integrated Transceiver Circuits for Catheter-Based Ultrasound Probes and Wearable Ultrasound Patches

This thesis describes the design, prototyping and experimental evaluation of transceiver ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) for catheter-based ultrasound probes and wearable ultrasound patches. To reduce the loading effect of micro-coaxial cables in an ICE probe based on capacitive micro-machined ultrasound transducers (CMUTs), an...

Integrated Transceiver Circuits for Carotid and Intra-Cardiac Ultrasound Imaging

This thesis describes the design and realization of integrated ultrasound transceivers for carotid artery imaging and intracardiac echocardiography (ICE). The goal of this work is to investigate system- and circuit-level techniques to address requirements and implementation bottlenecks in these applications. Prototype chips are presented to...

Integrated Circuits for Miniature 3–D Ultrasound Probes: Solutions for the Interconnection Bottleneck

This thesis describes low-power application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designs to mitigate the constraint of cable count in miniature 3-D TEE probes. Receive cable count reduction techniques including subarray beamforming and digital time-division multiplexing (TDM) have been explored and the effectiveness of these techniques has been...

Readout circuits for hot-wire carbon dioxide sensors in CMOS technology

This thesis describes the design and realization of CMOS-compatible CO2 sensors based on thermal conductivity (TC) measurement for indoor air-quality sensing. The goal of this work is to investigate the advantages and limitations of sensing CO2 based on TC measurement, and to exploit its potential to achieve the best possible performance in...

Front-End ASICs for 3-D Ultrasound: From Beamforming to Digitization

This thesis describes the analysis, design and evaluation of front-end application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for 3-D medical ultrasound imaging, with the focus on the receive electronics. They are specifically designed for next-generation miniature 3-D ultrasound devices, such as transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), intracardiac...

Energy-Efficient Capacitive-Sensor Interfaces

This thesis describes the theory, design and realization of energy-efficient capacitive-sensor interfaces that are dedicated to energy-constrained applications. The goal of this work is to explore energy-efficient capacitive-sensor interface design techniques both at the system and the circuit level.

Low-Power Receive-Electronics for a Miniature 3D Ultrasound Probe

This thesis describes the design of a front-end application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), which will be put into the tip of a miniature ultrasound probe for 3D Trans-Esophageal Echocardiography (TEE). To enable 3D TEE, a matrix piezoelectric ultrasound transducer with more than 2000 elements will be used. Since a gastroscopic tube cannot...