An ultrasonic sensor is a sensor that transmits an ultrasonic wave to a target object and receives the ultrasonic wave reflected by the target object, the ultrasonic sensor including an ultrasonic array chip on which ultrasonic elements that transmit and receive the ultrasonic wave are arranged in an array shape. Each of the ultrasonic elements includes a vibrating section and a piezoelectric element provided in the vibrating section, vibrates the vibrating section to transmit the ultrasonic wave, and outputs a reception signal of the ultrasonic wave by the vibration of the vibrating section. A resonance frequency of the ultrasonic element is 2000 kHz or less.

An ultrasonic imaging system has a bias-switchable, ultrasonic transducer array and a bipolar voltage source. The array has a dielectric layer having a top surface and a bottom surface; top and bottom electrode strips in electrical contact with the top and bottom surface of the dielectric layer, the bottom electrode strips being oriented at a non-zero angle relative to the top electrode strips. There is an acoustic matching layer or multiplicity of matching layers on the front-side of the array and a leakage-current mitigation layer. The bipolar voltage source is connected to each of the top and bottom electrode strips to induce a polarization in the dielectric layer, the bipolar voltage source being capable of switching between a high voltage state and a low voltage state. A controller controls the bipolar voltage source, and pulsing to and receiving signals from the top and bottom electrode strips.

A 3D ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system produces 3D display images at a 3D frame rate of display which is equal to the acquisition rate of a 3D image dataset. The volumetric region being imaged is sparsely sub-sampled by separated scanning beams. Spatial locations between the beams are filled in with interpolated values or interleaved with acquired data values from other 3D scanning intervals depending upon the existence of motion in the image field. A plurality of different beam scanning patterns are used, different ones of which have different spatial locations where beams are located and beams are omitted. In a preferred embodiment the determination of motion and the consequent decision to use interpolated or interleaved data for display is determined on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

An ultrasound device for use with various types of imaging. In some embodiments, the ultrasound device may comprise a circuitry substrate and a plurality of transducer chips coupled to the circuitry substrate. In some embodiments, each transducer chip may comprise a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) component that may include a plurality of ultrasound elements closely packed with one another, an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) that may be operatively coupled to the plurality of ultrasound elements of said MEMS component, and a control unit that may be electrically coupled to each ASIC of the plurality of transducer chips for control thereof. In some embodiments, at least two transducer chips of the plurality of transducer chips may be placed on the circuitry substrate with a separation distance that may be less than an operational wavelength of the ultrasound elements of the MEMS components of said at least two transducer chips.

A system may include an ultrasound probe and a controller unit configured to communicate with the ultrasound probe. The controller unit may be further configured to transmit ultrasound signals using the ultrasound probe toward an area of interest in a patient's body, wherein the ultrasound signals include a fundamental frequency signal and at least one harmonic frequency signal; receive echo signals from the area of interest based on the transmitted ultrasound signals; obtain a fundamental frequency echo signal and at least one harmonic frequency echo signal from the received echo signals; and generate a visual representation of the area of interest based on the obtained fundamental frequency echo signal and the obtained at least one harmonic frequency echo signal.

In a chip-on-array approach, acoustic and electronic modules are separately formed. The acoustic stack is connected to one interposer, and the electronics are connected to another interposer. Different connection processes (e.g., using low temperature bonding for the acoustic stack and higher temperature-based interconnect for the electronics) may be used. This arrangement may allow for different pitches of the transducer elements and the I/O of the electronics by staggering vias in the interposers. The two interposers are then connected to form the chip-on-array.

An ultrasound probe contains an array transducer and a microbeamformer coupled to elements of the array. The microbeamformer comprises one or more analog ASICs containing transmitters and amplifiers coupled to transducer elements, and one or more digital ASICs containing analog to digital converters and digital beamforming circuitry. The analog ASICs and the digital ASICs are manufactured by different integrated circuit 5 processes, with that of the analog ASIC optimized for high voltage analog operation and that of the digital ASICs optimized for high density, low voltage digital circuitry.

An ultrasound probe contains an array transducer coupled to a digital microbeamformer. The digital microbeamformer is capable of producing delayed echo signals which are a delayed by a fraction of a clock cycle of received digital echo signals. The fractional delay is produced by an FIR filter which conserves power by weighting digital echo signals without the use of digital multipliers.

The method of bonding an interposer and an integrated circuit chip includes preparing an interposer including an insulator and conductive lines each having one end exposed to a first surface of the insulator and another end exposed to a second surface opposite to the first surface; placing a bonding mask on the interposer; forming through-holes on the bonding mask before or after the placing of the bonding mask on the interposer; filling the plurality with a conductive material; and bonding an integrated circuit chip to the bonding mask.

An ultrasound system has a set of CMUT ultrasound transducer devices and a drive circuit for operating the ultrasound transducer devices, for delivering an AC drive signal and receiving a reflected signal. An intermediate circuit is between the drive circuit and the set of ultrasound devices in the form of an array of coupling circuits, each coupling circuit between the drive circuit and an associated at least one ultrasound transducer device. Each coupling circuit comprises a buffer element connected between a bias voltage and a device terminal and as series capacitor. The intermediate circuit serves as a connection link between the set of CMUT transducer elements and the driving/sensing electronics, and is formed as a passive integrated technology circuit. The buffer element prevents a low-impedance short between the CMUT cell bias node and the counter electrode in the case of a CMUT cell drum short circuit. In this way, failure of an individual cell will not cause a breakdown of the whole CMUT array nor a breakdown of the driving electronics.