A low power digital beamformer for handheld ultrasound systems

The digital part of a low power single chip digital beamformer for use in low-cost handheld ultrasound imaging systems is presented. To ensure lowest power dissipation for battery operated systems, a quantitative optimization strategy from system down to physical layout level was employed. A cascadable test chip comprising a single processing channel was realized in a 0.5 µm CMOS technology. Operating at 40 MHz the digital part dissipates 25mW from a dual 1.8 V/3.3 V power supply.