Fully Integrated Single Chip CMUT Arrays for Forward Looking IVUS and ICE

用于前瞻性 IVUS 和 ICE 的完全集成单芯片 CMUT 阵列

• 批准号: 7987184
• 负责人: F. Levent Degertekin
• 金额: $ 48.39万
• 依托单位: GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-08-01 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7987184
• 关键词: Architecture; Area; Arteries; Biomedical Engineering; Boston; Caliber; Cardiac; Cardiology; Catheters; Chronic; Clinical; Collaborations; Consumption; Coronary; Coronary artery; Coupling; Custom; Development; Devices; Diagnosis; Echocardiography; Electrodes; Electronics; Elements; Evaluation; Foundations; Frequencies; Funding; Goals; Heart; Heart Diseases; Histology; Image; Imaging Device; Imaging Phantoms; Intervention; Mechanics; Medical; Methods; Microfabrication; Monitor; Needles; Noise; Performance; Phase; Procedures; Process; Radiofrequency Interstitial Ablation; Recording of previous events; Research; Research Personnel; Scanning; Scheme; Shapes; Side; Signal Transduction; Silicon; Speed; Stents; Structure; System; Technology; Temperature Sense; Thick; Tissue Sample; Transducers; Translating; Ultrasonic Transducer; Ultrasonography; United States National Institutes of Health; analog; base; design; digital; flexibility; heart valve replacement; imaging probe; improved; innovation; miniaturize; novel; operation; public health relevance; solid state; success; tool

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A highly flexible catheter with forward-looking, volumetric ultrasound imaging array at its tip would be invaluable for guiding interventions in totally occluded arteries and in the heart. While new catheter designs have been developed, current Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and intra cardiac echocardiography (ICE) systems are either side-looking or do not generate the true volumetric images directly in front of the catheter. A donut disk shaped ultrasound imaging array with a hollow center allowing for guidewire and other intervention tools can provide volumetric imaging capability in front of the catheter with small number of electrical connection using synthetic aperture beamforming methods. We use capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) technology in an innovative way to form these 2-D arrays with separate transmit and receive elements. This approach not only results in simpler electronics, but allows one to shape and locate the array elements on the available silicon area to increase transmit power, imaging speed and possibly reduce cross-talk. As important, our research shows that one can integrate all the required transmit and receive electronics on the same silicon chip as the CMUT array. This approach eliminates the large number of chip-to- chip electrical connections and enables direct interface to a reduced number of cables (10-12) in a catheter with a simple flex-tape interconnect. In addition to these manufacturing advantages, the extremely low profile of the fully integrated CMUT array - essentially a 1mm thick disk -- will result in flexible structures to navigate through tortuous arteries and should be easier to integrate to a variety of existing deflectable guide catheters. In this project, we will develop single chip CMUT arrays with fully integrated electronics on 1.5mm and 2.5mm diameter hollow silicon chips operating at 10-20MHz frequency range for forward-looking IVUS and ICE applications. The integrated CMOS electronics will be low-power (<150mW) and will feature integrated temperature sensing for safe operation. We will explore the potential of this approach for improved image quality through novel array designs. We will form catheter tips with CMUT arrays and characterize their performance on custom imaging targets with direct comparison to existing side-looking IVUS catheters. We expect this study to be an important step in translating CMUT technology to clinical settings for cardiology applications. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This study will develop ultimately miniaturized ultrasonic imaging devices that can be attached at the tip of a catheter to guide interventions in coronary arteries and in the heart by providing a volumetric image directly in front of the catheter. This will help increase the success rate of interventions especially in totally blocked arteries and trans- catheter operations in the heart.

描述（由申请人提供）：一种高度柔韧的导管，其尖端具有前瞻性，体积超声成像阵列对于指导完全遮挡的动脉和心脏中的指导干预措施非常宝贵。尽管已经开发了新的导管设计，但当前的血管内超声（IVU）和心脏超声心动图（ICE）系统是侧面外观的，或者不会直接在导管前面产生真正的体积图像。带有空心中心的甜甜圈磁盘形超声成像阵列，允许使用导管和其他干预工具，可以在导管前使用合成孔径孔隙形成方法在导管前提供体积成像能力。我们以创新的方式使用电容性微机械超声传感器（CMUT）技术，以单独的传输和接收元件形成这些2D阵列。这种方法不仅会导致更简单的电子设备，而且允许人们在可用的硅区域上塑造和定位阵列元素，以提高发射功率，成像速度并可能降低串扰。重要的是，我们的研究表明，可以将所有所需的传输和接收电子设备与CMUT阵列相同的硅芯片集成。这种方法消除了大量的芯片到芯片电连接，并在具有简单的Flex-Tape互连的导管中直接与减少电缆（10-12）的接口。除了这些制造优势之外，完全集成的CMUT阵列的极低剖面（本质上是1mm厚的磁盘）将导致灵活的结构以通过曲折的动脉导航，并且应该更容易地集成到各种现有的可偏转的导管导管。在这个项目中，我们将开发单个芯片CMUT阵列，其直径为1.5mm和2.5mm直径的空心硅芯片在10-20MHz频率范围内，用于前瞻性IVUS和ICE应用。集成的CMOS电子设备将是低功率（<150MW），并具有集成的温度传感以进行安全操作。我们将通过新颖的阵列设计探索这种方法的潜力，以提高图像质量。我们将形成带有CMUT阵列的导管尖端，并将其在自定义成像目标上的性能进行表征，并与现有的侧面外观IVUS导管进行直接比较。我们希望这项研究是将CMUT技术转化为心脏病学应用程序的临床环境的重要一步。 公共卫生相关性：这项研究最终将开发微型超声成像设备，可以在导管尖端附加，以通过在导管前面提供体积图像来指导冠状动脉的干预措施，并在心脏中进行指导。这将有助于提高干预措施的成功率，尤其是在心脏中完全阻塞的动脉和跨导管操作中。