This work presents an ASIC designed to be integrated on the tip of an intra-vascular ultrasound catheter, capable of interfacing 64 ultrasonic transducer elements to an imaging system using only one micro-coaxial cable.
A prototype chip has been taped out that can be used to transmit acoustic waves using a small-area transmit switch. The received echo signal is amplified by a phantom powered LNA and read-out at the other end of the micro-coaxial cable by a transimpedance amplifier.