Interconnectable ultrasound transducer probes and related methods and apparatus

Abstract

Ultrasound devices and methods are described, including a repeatable ultrasound transducer probe having ultrasonic transducers and corresponding circuitry. The repeatable ultrasound transducer probe may be used individually or coupled with other instances of the repeatable ultrasound transducer probe to create a desired ultrasound device. The ultrasound devices may optionally be connected to various types of external devices to provide additional processing and image rendering functionality.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A portable ultrasound imaging probe, comprising:
 a plurality of ultrasonic transducers on a substrate;   control circuitry coupled to the plurality of ultrasonic transducers and configured to control operation of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers, wherein the control circuitry comprises biasing circuitry configured to adjust gap distances of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers to alter frequency behavior of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers; and   a housing substantially enclosing the biasing circuitry and the plurality of ultrasonic transducers.   
     
     
         2 . The portable ultrasound imaging probe of  claim 1 , wherein the biasing circuitry is configured to operate the plurality of ultrasonic transducers in collapse mode. 
     
     
         3 . The portable ultrasound imaging probe of  claim 1 , wherein a first ultrasonic transducer of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers comprises a membrane and a membrane stop configured to limit movement of the membrane. 
     
     
         4 . The portable ultrasound imaging probe of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry further comprises a waveform generator coupled to at least one ultrasonic transducer of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers, the waveform generator being configurable to generate a plurality of different waveforms, each of said plurality of different waveforms comprising a different frequency from other waveforms of the plurality of different waveforms. 
     
     
         5 . The portable ultrasound imaging probe of  claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises a dimension less than 80 mm. 
     
     
         6 . An apparatus, comprising:
 an ultrasound-on-a-chip imaging device comprising a plurality of different interface types supporting a plurality of data transfer rates.   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein at least two different interface types of the plurality of interface types are configured to interface with different types of external devices. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the ultrasound-on-a-chip imaging device includes an arrangement of micromachined ultrasonic transducers and control circuitry coupled to the arrangement of micromachined ultrasonic transducers. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the plurality of different interface types includes a first interface type and a second interface type, and wherein the first interface type is configured to support data transfer rates spanning a first range and the second interface type is configured to support data transfer rates spanning a second range at least partially overlapping with the first range. 
     
     
         10 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a substrate;   a plurality of ultrasonic transducers on the substrate; and   control circuitry, coupled to the plurality of ultrasonic transducers and configured to control operation of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers, wherein the control circuitry comprises a waveform generator coupled to at least one ultrasonic transducer of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers, the waveform generator being configurable to generate different waveforms.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the waveform generator is configurable to generate one or more of an impulse, a continuous wave, a coded excitation, or a chirp waveform. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the chirp waveform is a linear frequency modulation (LFM) chirp. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the control circuitry comprises a plurality of waveform generators, each waveform generator of the plurality of waveform generators being coupled to a respective ultrasonic transducer of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the waveform generator is coupled to at least two ultrasonic transducers of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the control circuitry comprises a plurality of waveform generators, each waveform generator of the plurality of waveform generators being coupled to at least two ultrasonic transducers of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the waveform generator is configured to generate a first kind of waveform for a first ultrasonic transducer of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers and a second kind of waveform for a second ultrasonic transducer of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers, the first and second kinds of waveforms being different. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the control circuitry comprises digitization circuitry configured to digitize an analog signal received from at least one ultrasonic transducer of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the digitization circuitry is configured to digitize signals received from all ultrasonic transducers of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the digitization circuitry is selectively couplable to different combinations of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the control circuitry comprises a plurality of low noise amplifiers (LNAs), at least two of which are coupled to a respective ultrasonic transducer of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the plurality of ultrasonic transducers to provide high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). 
     
     
         22 . A device comprising:
 a plurality of semiconductor ultrasound transducer elements; and   semiconductor control circuitry coupled to the plurality of semiconductor ultrasound transducer elements and configured to control the semiconductor ultrasound transducer elements to support two-dimensional and three-dimensional ultrasound imaging.   
     
     
         23 . The device of  claim 22 , further including at least one lower speed output and at least one higher speed output. 
     
     
         24 . The device of  claim 22 , wherein the device is configured to support universal serial bus (USB) transmission. 
     
     
         25 . The device of  claim 22 , wherein the semiconductor control circuitry is configured to receive a voltage signal that is greater than 20V. 
     
     
         26 . The device of  claim 25 , wherein the semiconductor control circuitry is configured to receive a voltage signal that is between approximately 20V and approximately 100V. 
     
     
         27 . An apparatus, comprising,
 a semiconductor substrate;   a plurality of ultrasonic transducers on the semiconductor substrate; and   a circuit on the semiconductor substrate and coupled to the plurality of ultrasonic transducers, wherein the circuit is configured to support a voltage signal that is greater than approximately 20 V.   
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 27 , wherein the circuit is configured to include at least one node supporting a voltage that is between approximately 20 V and approximately 120 V. 
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the at least one node is a submicron node. 
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 29 , wherein the at least one node is a deep submicron node. 
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 27 , wherein the circuit comprises a pulser circuit configured to produce a voltage signal between approximately 5 V and approximately 20 V. 
     
     
         32 . The apparatus of  claim 27 , wherein the circuit comprises first and second pulser circuits coupled to an ultrasonic transducer of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers. 
     
     
         33 . A method, comprising:
 forming, on a single support, multiple different interface types supporting different data transfer rates;   forming on the single support, micromachined ultrasonic transducers coupled to the multiple different interface types, the micromachined ultrasonic transducers configured to allow two-dimensional and three-dimensional imaging; and   forming control circuitry coupling the multiple different interface types to the micromachined ultrasonic transducers.   
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the multiple different interface types include a universal serial bus (USB) interface.