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US 8,710,874 B2Granted
Transmission channel for ultrasound applications
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics S.r.l.
InventorsSandro Rossi, Giulio Ricotti, Davide Ugo Ghisu, Antonio Ricciardo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A transmission channel configured to transmit high-voltage pulses and to receive echos of the high-voltage pulses includes a high voltage buffer, a voltage clamp and a switch. The voltage clamp may include clamping transistors and switching off transistors coupled together in series with body diodes in anti-series. The transmission channel may include a reset circuit configured to bias the transmission channel between pulses. The switch may include a bootstrap circuit.
Claims18
A system, comprising:
- a connection terminal configured to couple to a transducer;
- a high-voltage output terminal;
- a low-voltage output terminal;
- a high-voltage buffer configured to output high-voltage pulses;
- a voltage clamp coupled to an output of the high-voltage buffer and to the high-voltage output terminal and configured to clamp the high-voltage output terminal to a reference voltage between high-voltage pulses;
- a bias circuit coupled between the high-voltage buffer and the voltage clamp and configured to bias the voltage clamp between high-voltage pulses;
- and
- a high-voltage switch configured to couple the connection terminal to the low-voltage output terminal between high-voltage pulses.
5 more elements
A method, comprising:
- transmitting a series of high-voltage pulses through a transmission channel to a connection terminal;
- clamping, using a voltage clamp, a high-voltage output terminal of the transmission channel to a reference voltage between high-voltage pulses;
- biasing the high-voltage clamp between high-voltage pulses;
- and
- coupling the connection terminal to a low-voltage output terminal between high-voltage pulses.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.