ST Develops Highly Integrated Ultrasound Pulse Controller

STHV748 low-noise ultrasound pulse controller

Geneva, Switzerland: STMicroelectronics has developed a highly integrated low-noise ultrasound pulse controller. The device enables the next generation of high-performance ultrasound imaging systems in a small form factor.

Built using the company’s high-voltage bipolar CMOS DMOS (BCD) mixed-signal technology, the STHV748 provides four independent channels, each of which generates precisely controlled high-voltage pulses to drive piezoelectric crystals or other transducers. The ultrasound scanner works on the same principles as radar.

A piezoelectric transducer emits a burst of ultrasound waves when stimulated by a high-voltage electrical signal and, in turn, generates a low-voltage electrical signal in response to the echoed reflections of ultrasound waves from, for example, soft body tissues. The STHV748 provides the accurately timed high-voltage pulses that generate the ultrasound burst and switch to receive mode to detect the echoed signals.