Mosaic arrays using micromachined ultrasound transducers

• US 6,865,140 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2003
• Issued: 03/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Wodnicki, Robert G., Thomenius, Kai, Smith, Lowell Scott, Mills, David M., Hazard, Christopher Robert, Fisher, Rayette A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lobo, Ian J.
• Application Number:
  US10/383,990
• Publication Number:
  US 20040174773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 733 Days
• Field of Search: 367/153, 367/154, 367/155, 367/157, 367/164, 367/181, 367/163, 367/174, 381/169, 381/174, 600/469
• US Class Current: 367/155
• CPC Class Codes: B06B 1/0292 Electrostatic transducers, e.g. electret-type

Abstract

An ultrasound transducer array includes a multiplicity of subelements interconnected by a multiplicity of microelectronic switches, each subelement comprising a respective multiplicity of micromachined ultrasound transducer (MUT) cells. The MUT cells within a particular subelement are hard-wired together. The switches are used to configure the subelements to form multiple concentric annular elements. This design dramatically reduces complexity while enabling focusing in the elevation direction during ultrasonic image data acquisition.

Claims

1. A mosaic array comprising a multiplicity of subelements, a multiplicity of switches, each of said switches being connected to at least one of said subelements, and a programming circuit that controls said multiplicity of switches, each of said subelements comprising a respective multiplicity of micromachined ultrasound transducer (MUT) cells, and each NUT cell comprising a top electrode and a bottom electrode, wherein the top electrodes of the MUT cells making up any particular subelement are connected together by connections that are not switchably disconnectable, and the bottom electrodes of those same MUT cells are connected together by connections that are not switchably disconnectable, wherein said programming circuit controls said switches to form a first ring-shaped element comprising a first set of said subelements.

2. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, wherein each subelement comprises a respective group of seven MUT cells arranged in a daisy configuration.

3. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, wherein each subelement comprises a respective group of 19 MUT cells arranged in a hexagonal configuration.

4. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, wherein each subelement comprises a respective group of N MUT cells arranged in a predetermined pattern, wherein N is an integer greater than unity.

5. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, wherein adjacent subelements are separated by gaps sufficient to reduce cross talk.

6. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, further comprising a semiconductor substrate, said switches being fabricated within said semiconductor substrate and said cMUT cells being fabricated on said semiconductor substrate.

7. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, wherein said programming circuit controls said switches so that the aperture on transmit is different than the aperture on receive.

8. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, wherein said programming circuit controls said switches so that said first ring-shaped element is a generally annular ring.

9. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, wherein said programming circuit controls said switches so that said first ring-shaped element is a non-annular ring.

10. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, wherein said programming circuit controls said switches so that said first set of subelements of said first ring-shaped element are circumferentially distributed along a circle at equal angular intervals.

11. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, wherein said programming circuit controls said switches to form a second ring-shaped element comprising a second set of said subelements, said first ring-shaped element being surrounded by said second ring-shaped element.

12. The mosaic array as recited in claim 11, wherein said programming circuit controls said switches to form a third ring-shaped element comprising a third set of said subelements, said second ring-shaped element being surrounded by said third ring-shaped element.

13. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, wherein said programming circuit controls said switches so that switched-on subelements having similar delay values produce a steered beam.

14. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, wherein said programming circuit modifies the bias voltage across the active aperture to generate a shaped modulation across said MUT cells.

15. The mosaic array as recited in claim 1, wherein said programming circuit independently adjusts the bias voltage for each subelement to compensate for sensitivity variation.

16. An ultrasound transducer array comprising a multiplicity of subelements interconnected by a multiplicity of microelectronic switches and programming means for interconnecting selected subelements to form respective ring-shaped elements, each ring-shaped element comprising a respective set of said subelements, each subelement comprising a respective multiplicity of MUT cells, and each MUT cell within a particular subelement being connected together by connections that are not switchably disconnectable.

17. The array as recited in claim 16, wherein said respective ring-shaped elements form multiple concentric annuli of an electronically formed annular array.

18. The array as recited in claim 17, wherein said electronically formed annular array is moved, under electronic control, across said transducer array.

19. The array as recited in claim 16, wherein the borders of said annuli are changed electronically in response to the temporal relationship between the echoes received by said subelements and the total beamsum signal of an electronically formed annular array.

20. The array as recited in claim 16, wherein said subelements are interconnected in a first configuration during transmit and a second configuration during receive, said first and second configurations being different.

21. The array as recited in claim 16, wherein each subelement comprises a respective group of seven MUT cells arranged in a daisy configuration.

22. The array as recited in claim 16, wherein each subelement comprises a respective group of 19 MUT cells arranged in a hexagonal configuration.

23. The array as recited in claim 16, wherein each subelement comprises a respective group of N MUT cells arranged in a predetermined pattern, wherein N is an integer greater than unity.

24. The array as recited in claim 16, wherein adjacent subelements are separated by gaps sufficient to reduce cross talk.