The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 19, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 06, 1999
Thilaka S. Sumanaweera, San Jose, CA (US);
Sevig Ayter, Cupertino, CA (US);
John W. Sliwa, Jr., Los Altos, CA (US);
Acuson Corporation, Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
Spiral, sparse spiral, substantially spiral or substantially sparse spiral transducer arrays comprising capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer elements disposed on a silicon substrate, and ultrasound imaging systems employing same. The transducer elements are respectively coupled to a plurality of amplifiers. Imager electronics are coupled to each of the amplifiers and drives the transducer elements and/or generates an output of the spiral transducer array. The amplifiers may be located in the silicon substrate containing the transducer elements, or on a separate substrate that is interconnected to the substrate containing the transducer elements using bumps, for example. Electrical interconnection to the transducer elements may readily be achieved without interfering with the acoustic output of the transducer elements.