Ultrasonic Imaging Using Two-Dimensional Transducer Arrays

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Abstract
Instrumentation for echocardiography has progressed through the first generation with single-transducer TM-mode scanning, into the second generation with real-time B-mode imaging using linear arrays of transducers. A third generation with great future potential is represented by two-dimensional piezoelectric transducer arrays which are inherently capable of imaging in a three-dimensional volume as illustrated schematically in Fig. 1. The volume is shown divided into basic depth elements that project through the region with width equal to the lateral resolution. Depth information is obtained by insonifying one or more depth elements with acoustic pulses and receiving echoes from reflecting and scattering objects. Practical methods of displaying real-time three-dimensional information are unavailable, and consequently the most significant capability is the electronic selectability of image data in three dimensions. A scanned system, where electronically selected depth elements are processed sequentially using the same transducers for both insonification and echo reception, is particularly well suited to this use.

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