Spatial ultrasound modulator, ultrasonic apparatus having the same and method of generating amplitude-modulated ultrasonic waves using the same

Abstract

A spatial ultrasound modulator includes a signal line, an ultrasonic array, a pixel coder and an ultrasonic driver. The signal line includes a plurality of first conductive lines and a plurality of second conductive lines. The plurality of first conductive lines are arranged to be spaced apart from each other on a substrate. The plurality of second conductive lines are arranged to intersect the first conductive lines above the plurality of first conductive lines and to be spaced apart from each other. The ultrasonic array includes a plurality of ultrasonic generators. Each of the plurality of ultrasonic generators includes at least one capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) device. Each of the plurality of ultrasonic generators is superimposed on one of a plurality of pixels, which are intersection points of the plurality first conductive lines and the plurality of second conductive lines. Each of the plurality of ultrasonic generators generates a unit-ultrasonic wave. The pixel coder may be configured to generate the coding array by coding each of the plurality of pixels of the ultrasonic array so that an operation mode of each of the plurality of pixels may be a contrasting binary operation mode of the ultrasonic generator. The coding array includes active pixels and inactive pixels. The ultrasonic driver drives the coding array to generate amplitude-modulated ultrasonic waves of which a wavefront may be deformed. The amplitude-modulated ultrasonic waves are a synthesized plurality of unit-ultrasonic waves.