Integration of Ultrasonic and Microelectromechanical Devices with Low-Power-CMOS Electronics for Volumetric Acoustic Imaging

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Surface micro-electromechanical technology will be scaled to deep ultrasonic frequencies (~10-100 MHz) and integrated with ultra-low-power Si CMOS readout electronics to develop sub-centimeter sized, two-dimensional transmit/receive arrays that can be inserted in the mouth and coupled acoustically to individual teeth for the purpose of three-dimensional volumetric imaging. This project will extend the science of ultra-high-frequency acoustics and the technology of ultrasonic/electronic integration, consistent with the objectives of the 'XYZ-on-a-Chip' Program. It will take advantage of the low-power digital signal processing and image processing technologies currently being developed in other fields (e.g., wireless communications). Finally, it will enable a revolutionary, non-ionizing capability in dental imaging that promises to detect many important effects that conventional radiography usually miss (e.g., micro-cracks in teeth and carious lesions under existing restorations), and eliminate the environmental problems associated with medical radiography.