Mri receiver coil providing an enhanced signal-to-noise ratio
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsAna Claudia Arias, Shimon Lustig, Anita M. Flynn, Joseph Corea
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) receiver includes a receiver coil on a substrate. The receiver coil includes one or more capacitors. The construction of the capacitors allows for the use of very flexible substrates and allows the capacitors themselves to be highly flexible. The increased flexibility permits the MRI receiver to be conformed to the body of a patient and accordingly improves the MRI process.
Claims28
A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) receiver, comprising:
- a receiver coil on a substrate, the receiver coil including a capacitor, the substrate having an upper surface and a lower surface, the upper surface of the substrate being between the capacitor and the lower surface of the substrate,
- the MRI receiver being sufficiently flexible that the MRI receiver can be bent so as to have a radius of curvature less than 120 mm at a point under the capacitor without degrading a performance of the MRI receiver, and
- the point under the capacitor being located on an upper surface of the substrate that is between the capacitor and the lower surface of the substrate.
A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) receiver, comprising:
- a receiver coil on a substrate, the receiver coil includes a capacitor, a lower plate of the capacitor is between an upper plate of the capacitor and the substrate;
- and
- the lower plate of the capacitor is layer of material that is in direct contact with the substrate.
A collection, comprising:
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) receivers that each has a receiver coil on a substrate,
- each of the receiver coils including a capacitor, each of the different capacitors having a dielectric layer with a different percentage of a dielectric material in the dielectric layer;
- the different receiver coils each having a different resonant frequency when exposed to the same magnetic field but are constructed such that the different receiver coils would have the same resonant frequency if the dielectric layer in each of the different capacitors had the same percentage of the dielectric material.
A method comprising:
- generating multiple Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) receivers that each has a receiver coil on a different substrate,
- each of the receiver coils including a capacitor;
- and
- wherein generating the MRI receivers includes generating the different capacitors such that each of the different capacitors has a dielectric layer with a different percentage of a dielectric material in the dielectric layer and the different receiver coils each has a different resonant frequency when exposed to the same magnetic field but would have the same resonant frequency if the dielectric layer in each of the different capacitors had the same percentage of the dielectric material.
A method of forming a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) receiver, comprising:
- forming a receiver coil on a substrate, the receiver coil including a capacitor on a substrate, the capacitor including a dielectric layer between a first plate and a second plate;
- and
- forming the receiver coil including screen printing a layer of material on the substrate such that the layer of material serves as one of the components selected from the group consisting of the first plate, dielectric layer, and the second plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.