A 30-V transmitter front-end IC for ultrasound medical imaging applications

A transmitter front-end IC for ultrasound medical imaging applications is implemented using 30-V 0.18-μm Bipolar/CMOS/DMOS process. The proposed ultrasound transmitter front-end, consisting of voltage level-shifters and an output driver, achieves high integration and maintains good reliability while generating a 33 ns output pulse signal in order to drive a large capacitive load, which represents the equivalent capacitance of the capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer device. The proposed high-frequency transmitter achieves a delay of less than 20 ns at 30  Vp–p output voltage while successfully driving a capacitive load of 44 pF and consumes an area of 0.34 mm².