JP2002330963A - Ultrasound probe - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the transmitting/receiving sensitivity of ultrasonic waves by making available a large number of ultrasonic vibrators without enlarging an ultrasound probe. SOLUTION: A plurality of switch circuits 19 for turning on/off ultrasonic signals exchanged with a plurality of ultrasonic vibrators 17 formed by using a semiconductor substrate 21 are formed on the semiconductor substrate 21 on which the ultrasonic vibrators 17 are formed, and connection wiring between the switch circuits 19 and the ultrasonic vibrators 17b are patterned by semiconductor production technology.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe such as an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ultrasonic probe transmits an ultrasonic wave into a subject and receives an echo signal reflected from a diagnostic site. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus reconstructs an ultrasonic diagnostic image or an image called an ultrasonic image at a diagnostic site based on a signal received by the ultrasonic probe and displays the image on a display of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. By doing so, it contributes to various diagnoses of the living body.

As an ultrasonic probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, such as an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, for example, IEEE 1998 Ultrason
ics Symposium P.1877 Micromachined capacitive tr
ansducer arrays for medical ultrasound imaging,
XC. Jin et al. And the like, a plurality of ultrasonic transducers (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as transducers) for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves using a semiconductor substrate such as silicon are arranged in a two-dimensional array. Ultrasonic probes have been proposed.

[0004]

An ultrasonic probe for observing a heart disease or the like, for example, has a size of 2500.
About 50 (50 rows × 50 columns) to 4356 (66 rows × 66 columns) transducers are required. In order to individually control transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves to and from these transducers, a switch circuit must be provided corresponding to each transducer.

However, in order to connect this switch circuit to the vibrator, a connection terminal for connecting to an external switch circuit must be arranged around the semiconductor substrate. Since the number of switch circuits is required by the number of vibrators, the number of connection terminals is enormous. As a result, there is a problem that the area of the connection terminal on the semiconductor substrate becomes large, the ultrasonic probe becomes large, and it becomes difficult to use.

Conventionally, in order to cope with such a problem,
It is considered that the number of transducers to be used is reduced. For example, 200 pieces of a huge ultrasonic transducer group
Only about 500 transducers are used. But,
If only some of the transducers are used for transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves, there is a problem that the ultrasonic probe cannot obtain sufficient ultrasonic transmission and reception sensitivity. An object of the present invention is to improve the transmission / reception sensitivity of ultrasonic waves by using many ultrasonic transducers without increasing the size of the ultrasonic probe.

[0007]

The present invention solves the above problems by the following means. That is, a plurality of ultrasonic transducers formed using a semiconductor substrate, and a plurality of switch circuits for turning on and off an ultrasonic signal transmitted and received between the ultrasonic transducer and the transmitting and receiving circuit, the switch The circuit is
The ultrasonic transducer is formed on the semiconductor substrate on which the ultrasonic transducer is formed, and a connection wiring between the switch circuit and the ultrasonic transducer is formed in a pattern by a semiconductor manufacturing technique.

As described above, the switch circuit is formed on the semiconductor substrate on which the ultrasonic vibrator is formed, and the connection wiring between the ultrasonic vibrator and the switch circuit is formed by patterning using a semiconductor manufacturing technique. The connection terminal for the switch circuit becomes unnecessary. As a result, an area for forming the connection terminal is not required, and the ultrasonic probe can be downsized. By the way, since each vibrator is assigned to one or a plurality of channels arbitrarily variably set singly or in an overlapping manner, the switch circuit connects switch elements of a necessary number of channels to one vibrator in parallel. Formed. However, since the size of the switch circuit is sufficiently smaller than that of the vibrator, it is easy to form the switch circuit on the same substrate. Further, if the switch circuit is formed in a layer shape with respect to the vibrator, an increase in the area of the semiconductor substrate can be suppressed.

In other words, according to the present invention, the number of connection terminals to the external circuit required for the board, excluding the control signal connection terminals, is the number of transmission / reception channels commonly connected to each switch circuit, for example, 128 channels. The number of connection terminals can be reduced, and many ultrasonic transducers can be used for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves without increasing the size of the ultrasonic probe, and the ultrasonic transmission and reception sensitivity of the ultrasonic probe can be improved. .

Further, as described above, since each switch circuit has switch elements corresponding to the number of channels,
It is necessary to control ON / OFF of the corresponding switch element according to the selected channel command. As is well known, this switching control is performed by a probe interface based on a channel selection command output from a control circuit of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body. That is, the probe interface circuit includes a circuit that distributes the ultrasonic signal output from the ultrasonic transmission circuit for each channel, and connection control information of each switch circuit corresponding to each ultrasonic transducer, that is, a channel selection command. It is preferable to include a switch control RAM for storing information on which switch circuit is turned on in response to the switch circuit, and it is preferable to incorporate the switch control RAM into the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention.

Further, the switch circuit may have a multilayer structure. According to this, the size of the switch circuit can be further reduced, and the increase in the size of the switch circuit can be suppressed even when the number of transducers and ultrasonic transmission / reception channels increases, which is preferable.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a main part of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including an ultrasonic probe according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the assignment of the ultrasonic transducers and the transmission / reception channels in the ultrasonic probe of FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the transmission and reception directions of ultrasonic waves of the ultrasonic probe in the connection of FIG. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a transducer and a switch circuit of the ultrasonic probe of FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing another transmitting and receiving direction of the ultrasonic wave in the ultrasonic probe of FIG. FIG.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an allocation relationship between an ultrasonic transducer of the ultrasonic probe and a transmission / reception channel in the ultrasonic transmission / reception direction in FIG. 5.

First, the overall configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe (hereinafter, simply referred to as a probe) 1 for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a measurement target portion of a subject, and The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes a main body 3 that reconstructs an image based on a reception signal received by the child 1 and a display monitor 5 that displays an image generated by the main body 3 and the like. The probe 1 and the main body 3
They are connected by a probe cable 7.

The main body 3 of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes a transmitting circuit 9
, A reception circuit 11, a tomographic image display circuit 13, and a control circuit 15. The transmission circuit 9 and the reception circuit 11 are connected to the probe 1 via the probe cable 7. The receiving circuit 11 is connected to a tomographic image display circuit 13, and the tomographic image display circuit 13 is connected to the display monitor 5. The transmission circuit 9 performs transmission focus processing on the transmission wave to the probe 1 and transmits the transmission wave. Receiving circuit 11
Is configured to include phasing means for adjusting the phase of the received wave output from the probe 1. Tomographic image display circuit 13
Receives the received signal subjected to the phasing processing by the receiving circuit 11 and reconstructs an ultrasonic tomographic image, for example, a B-mode image, based on the received signal. The control circuit 15 controls the operation of the entire ultrasonic device.

The probe 1 includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducers (hereinafter, referred to as “transducers”).
A substrate 21 provided with a single oscillator 17 and a switch circuit 19 provided corresponding to each oscillator 17;
An interface circuit 23 is included.
The transducer 17 for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves is provided on a substrate 21 made of a semiconductor such as silicon, for example, together with a switch circuit 19 for switching a plurality of transmission / reception channels. The vibrator 17 is connected to the interface circuit 23 via the switch circuit 19, and the interface circuit 23 is connected to the transmission circuit 9 and the reception circuit 11 via the probe cable 7. The interface circuit 23 has a switch control RAM 25 in the circuit. The interface circuit 23 receives the control information of the switch circuit 19 from the main body 3 and
Are controlled. The switch control RAM 25 stores the oscillator 17 output from the control circuit 15.
And the connection information of the switch circuit 19 are stored.

Next, the detailed configuration of the characteristic portion of the probe according to the present embodiment will be described together with the operation. As shown in FIG. 2, the transducers 17-1 to 17-1 are provided at the tip of the probe 1.
A vibrator surface 35 is formed by 17-4 and a plurality of other vibrators (not shown), and a matching layer (not shown) is provided on the vibrator surface 35. In addition, a switch circuit (not shown) for controlling a plurality of transducers having substantially equal transmission and reception delay times to be bundled is provided below the transducer face 35. Thus, the tip of the probe 1 is formed by the switch circuit, the vibrator, the matching layer, and the like, and the probe cable 7 is connected to the rear end of the probe 1 as shown in FIG. Have been.

Next, connection of main circuits of the probe 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows a part of a transducer provided in the probe 1 and a part of a circuit connected to the transducer. Each vibrator 17 is connected to a switch circuit 19, as shown in FIG. Each switch circuit 19 is configured to include a number corresponding to the number of transmission / reception channels, for example, 128 switch elements corresponding to 128 channels. In this case, one electrode of each switch element is commonly connected to each transducer 17.

Each switching element of each switch circuit 19 is connected to a decoder circuit 47, and each decoder circuit 47 is connected to a latch circuit 55. Each latch circuit 55 is connected to the address decoder circuit 63 and the interface circuit 2
3 are also connected. That is, the decoder circuit 47, the latch circuit 55, and the address decoder circuit 63 are provided between the interface circuit 23 and each switching element of each switch circuit 19. In addition, each vibrator 17
Is connected to the transmission circuit 9 via the respective switch circuits 19.
The ultrasonic signal is transmitted, and the received ultrasonic signal is transmitted to the receiving circuit 11.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above, the relationship between each transmitting / receiving channel with respect to each transducer 17 is determined in advance by a command from the control circuit 15 to the interface circuit 23 in accordance with the beam direction of the transmitted / received ultrasonic waves. Is output. That is, before the transmission circuit 9 transmits the ultrasonic wave,
Each transducer 17 that determines the beam direction of the transmitted / received ultrasonic wave
The switch connection information of the transmission / reception channel of
5 to the switch control RAM of the interface circuit 23
25. Thereafter, a command for the beam direction is output from the control circuit 15 to the interface circuit 23. The interface circuit 23 accesses the switch control RAM 25 based on a command from the control circuit 15 and accesses each switch circuit 19 stored in the switch control RAM 25.
The corresponding part of the switch connection information is read. The switch connection information read from the switch control RAM 25 is transmitted to each latch circuit 55 and is temporarily stored.

On the other hand, each address decoder circuit 63 has
The address of each transducer 17 is stored. When the stored address matches the address sent from the interface circuit 23, the address decoder circuit 63 transmits a latch signal to the connected latch circuits 55.

When the latch signal is transmitted from the address decoder circuit 63, the switch connection information temporarily stored in each latch circuit 55 is transmitted from each latch circuit 55 to the decoder circuit 47. Each decoder circuit 47
Decodes the switch connection information transmitted from the latch circuit 55 and transmits the decoded information to the switch circuit 19, respectively. Each switch circuit 19 turns on a switch element corresponding to the transmission / reception channel specified by the decoded signal, and a transmission signal is transmitted from the transmission circuit 9 to each transducer 17.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a probe 1 is used as shown in FIG.
When ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received in a direction immediately below the center with the transducer surface 35 of the
Is the transducer 17-1 on the transducer face 35, as shown in FIG.
It is sufficient to control the switching elements of the switch circuit 19 to be turned on in accordance with the concentrically set channels centered on the central portion including the central part 17-2 and the central part 17-2. That is, the vibrators 17-1 to be connected to the center channel,
17-2 is connected to the transmission / reception channel ch1 to perform actual transmission / reception of ultrasonic waves, and the transducers 17-3, 1 to be connected to the transmission / reception channel adjacent to the center channel.
7-4 is connected to the transmission / reception channel ch2, and connects a plurality of vibrators (not shown) on the outer peripheral portion thereof to the transmission / reception channel c2.
h3, and furthermore, the outer peripheral portion thereof is a transmission / reception channel ch.
Connect to 4. As described above, transmission and reception channels are sequentially designated from the center to the outer periphery, and actual transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves are performed.

Assuming that the number of transmission / reception channels is 128, the bit length of the switch connection information read from the switch control RAM 25 only needs to be encoded to 8 bits, with the condition that no connection is made to any transmission / reception channel. The interface circuit 23 transmits an 8-bit parallel signal to each latch circuit 55.

Here, a command is output from the control circuit 15 to the interface circuit 23 in advance with respect to the relationship of each transmission / reception channel with respect to each transducer 17. That is, the vibrator 1
7-1 and 17-2 are connected to ch1, and vibrators 17-3 and 17-2 are connected.
Switch connection information indicating that 17-4 is connected to ch2 is sent from the control circuit 15 to the switch control RAM 25 of the interface circuit 23.

The interface circuit 23 includes the control circuit 1
5, the switch control RAM 25 is accessed to read the switch connection information of ch1, output to each latch circuit 55, and output a latch clock. Latch circuit 55 maintains the ON state of latch circuit 55 only during a period specified by the transmitted latch clock.

Further, the interface circuit 23 supplies the vibrators 17-1 and 17-2 to each address decoder circuit 63.
Is transmitted. When an address signal corresponding to its own address is sent, each of the address decoder circuits 63-1 and 63-2 decodes the sent address signal and sends an ON signal to the latch circuits 55-1 and 55-2. I do. On the other hand, the address decoder circuit 63
Since -3 and 63-4 do not correspond to the own address and the transmitted address signal, the address signal is not decoded.

Address decoder circuits 63-1 and 63-2
Latch circuits 55-1, 55-
2 is in the ON state, and temporarily stores the switch connection information of ch1 in the decoder circuits 47-1 and 47-2, respectively.
Send to Ch1 from the latch circuits 55-1 and 55-2
The decoder circuit 47-1 to which the switch connection information of
47-2 are switch circuits 19-1 and 19-2, respectively.
And decodes and transmits the switch connection information with ch1. The switch elements corresponding to ch1 of the switch circuits 19-1 and 19-2 are the decoder circuits 47-1 and 4-1, respectively.
The oscillator 17- is closed based on the signal from 7-2.
1, 17-2 are connected to ch1.

That is, the vibrator 17- connected to ch1
1, 17-2 based on the connection information input to the decoder circuits 47-1 and 47-2.
-2 only the switch element of ch1 is closed,
The switch elements of channels 2 to 128 are controlled to open.

Here, the latch circuits 55-1, 55-2
Keeps the ON state for a time designated by the latch clock transmitted from the interface circuit 23, and releases the ON state when the designated time elapses.
5-1 and 55-2 are turned off.

Similarly, in the connection operation between the vibrators 17-3 and 17-4 and ch2, the interface circuit 23
By reading the switch connection information for connecting 7 to ch2 and outputting it to each latch circuit 55, and outputting a latch clock, the switch circuits 19-3 and 19-3 connected to the vibrators 17-3 and 17-4, respectively, are read. The switch element of channel 2 of 19-4 is closed, and the switch element connected to another transmission / reception channel is open.

As described above, the vibrators 17-1 and 17-2
Are connected in parallel to ch1 and are in a bundled state, and the vibrators 17-3 and 17-4 are both connected in parallel to ch2 and are in a bundled state.

The plurality of transducers 17 bundled for each transmission / reception channel independently transmit ultrasonic waves to the diagnostic site of the subject and receive ultrasonic reflected signals from the diagnostic site of the subject for each channel. I do. The received signal received by the group of transducers 17 is sent from the probe 1 to the main body 3 of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus via the probe cable 7. The main body 3 performs a phasing process in the receiving circuit 11 based on the received signal output from the probe 1, and reconstructs an ultrasonic tomographic image or the like in the tomographic image display circuit 13. The ultrasonic tomographic image reconstructed by the main body 3 is displayed and output by the display monitor 5.

At this time, each switch circuit 19 bundles a plurality of transducers 17 having substantially the same transmission and reception delay time, and
Connect to two transmit and receive channels. If you do this,
With respect to the number of transducers 17, even if the number of channels is small, more transducers 17 can be connected to the ultrasonic transmission / reception channel by the number of bundles.

The probe 1 of this embodiment can transmit and receive ultrasonic waves in a direction different from that of the above embodiment. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves in a diagonally lower left direction with respect to the transducer face 35, as shown in FIG.
The opening and closing of each switch circuit 19 may be controlled concentrically around the center 5. In other words, when transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves in a diagonally lower left direction with respect to the transducer surface 35, the transmitting and receiving channels bundle the transducers 17 concentrically around the center as shown in FIG. Instead, as shown in FIG. 6, a vibrator 17-5 at the lower left end of the vibrator surface 35 and a plurality of vibrators (not shown) around the vibrator 17-5 are channel ch1.
Each switch circuit 19 is opened and closed by bundling ch2 on the outer periphery of a concentric circle centered on the vibrator 17-5, bundling ch3 on the outer periphery of ch2, and bundling ch4 on the outer periphery of ch3. May be controlled.

As described above, the switch control RAM 25 of the interface circuit 23 can individually control the opening and closing of each switch circuit 19 connected to each oscillator 17. Sound waves can be transmitted and received.

Here, a conventional probe will be described.
For example, a band of an ultrasonic signal used in a medical ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is a band of about 2 to 10 MHz. Since the size of one vibrator is limited by the wavelength of the ultrasonic wave, the size is about 0.2 to 0.6 mm. Conventional probes are, for example, 15-20 m for observation of heart disease.
Since a group of vibrators having a size of about m square is required, one vibrator can be set to 0.1 m.
If it is 3 mm, 2500 (50 rows x 50 columns)-4
About 536 (66 rows × 66 columns) transducer groups are required.

When controlling the transmission and reception of these elements individually, the same number of terminals as the number of elements are required on the semiconductor substrate. In recent semiconductor manufacturing technology, submicron technology has been established for semiconductor internal cells. However, since wire bonding and the like must be performed on terminals, fine processing cannot be performed as much as inside semiconductors. Terminals can be provided only for every micrometer. That is, in order to control all the transducers provided in the probe, if the connection terminals corresponding to all the transducers are provided, the dimensions of the terminal group become larger than the dimensions of the transducer group. When this is used as a probe of a medical ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, it is not practical because it becomes difficult to apply the probe to a subject.

Therefore, conventionally, ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received using only about 200 to 500 transducers from a huge transducer group. In this case, it is not difficult for current semiconductor manufacturing technology to transmit and receive signals to and from such a large number of terminals. However, since only some of the transducers are used for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, there is a problem that the ultrasonic transmission and reception sensitivity is not sufficient.

On the other hand, in the probe 1 of the present invention, the oscillator 17 and the switch circuit 19 are provided on the semiconductor substrate 21 and the connection between each oscillator 17 and each switch circuit 19 is performed by a semiconductor manufacturing technique. The terminals required for the semiconductor substrate 21 in the probe 1 are terminals for connecting to the total number of transmission / reception channels and other control signals, and the number of terminals of the semiconductor substrate 21 can be reduced. As a result, all the transducers 1 provided on the substrate 21 can be provided without increasing the size of the probe 1.
7 can be connected to the switch circuit 19, so that all the transducers 17 provided on the probe 1 can be used for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, and the ultrasonic transmission and reception sensitivity of the probe 1 can be improved.

Further, instead of the probe 1 of the first embodiment, the probe may have a configuration as shown in FIGS. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a probe according to another embodiment. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the operation of the probe according to another embodiment. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a connection state between the transducer and the transmission / reception channel when the short axis scanning position is the center and the long axis scanning position is the scanning start end. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a connection state between the transducer and the transmission / reception channel when the short-axis scanning position is the same and the long-axis scanning position is shifted by one.

As shown in FIG. 7, a probe 69 of another embodiment has a rectangular vibrator surface 75 formed by a vibrator 71 and a plurality of vibrators (not shown) at the front end, and a probe at the rear end. The touch cable 7 is connected. At this time, the long side of the rectangular transducer surface 75 is set to the long axis, and the short side is set to the short axis. For example, each transducer 71 is connected to a corresponding switch circuit 82, as shown in FIG. Each switch circuit 82 is connected to a decoder circuit 83, and each decoder circuit 83 is connected to a latch circuit 91. Latch circuit 91 corresponding to the scan start position on the long axis
-1 is connected to an interface circuit not shown,
The latch clock and the switch connection information are transmitted from the interface circuit to the latch circuit 91-1. Further, each vibrator 71 is connected via a respective switch circuit 82 to
An ultrasonic signal is transmitted from a transmitting circuit (not shown), and the received ultrasonic signal is transmitted to a receiving circuit (not shown).

The latch circuit 91-1 corresponding to the scanning start position on the long axis is connected to an interface circuit (not shown) and to the next-stage latch circuit 91-2. The latch circuit 91-2 is connected to a latch circuit 91-3 provided at a stage subsequent to the latch circuit 91-2. That is, the latch circuit 91 that sends a connection signal to the switch circuit 82 connected to the vibrator 71 is sequentially connected in series in the scanning direction from the latch circuit 91-1 corresponding to the scanning start position, and each latch circuit 91 shifts. Operate as a register.

As shown in FIG. 7, on the transducer surface 75 formed in a rectangular shape, the scanning for transmitting and receiving the ultrasonic wave is first performed in the major axis direction, and when the scanning in the major axis direction is completed, the adjacent minor axis is scanned. Scan in the major axis direction. For example,
The major axis 101-1 is scanned along the major axis direction, and the major axis 101-1 is scanned.
When the scanning of -1 is completed, the scanning shifts to the adjacent major axis 101-2, that is, the scanning shifts in the short axis direction, and
The operation in the case of scanning -2 along the major axis direction in the direction opposite to the major axis 101-1 will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 10 shows a connection state of each circuit when the short axis scanning position is the center and the long axis scanning position is the scanning start end. FIG. 11 shows a connection state of each circuit when the short-axis scanning position is the same and the long-axis scanning position is shifted by one. In the switch circuit, as shown in FIG. 10, the connection of the switches is set concentrically around the scanning position on the short axis and the scanning start position on the long axis.

Here, the fact that one scan advances in the major axis direction means that the interface circuit and the switch control RA
M is a switch circuit 82-1 of the vibrator 71-1 in the L0 column.
To the new switch connection information,
This is equivalent to moving the switch connection information of the vibrator 71-1 in the row to the switch circuit 82-2 in the L1 column, and moving the switch connection information of the vibrator 71-2 in the L1 row to the switch circuit 82-3 in the L2 row. . Therefore, when the ultrasonic scanning direction is the major axis direction, the interface circuit and the switch control RAM store the switch connection information as L
Since it is sufficient to transmit the switch connection information to the switch circuit 82-1 of the vibrator 71-1 in the 0-th row, the switch connection information may be sent to the latch circuit 91-1 connected to the switch circuit 82-1.

If the scanning position of the probe 69 in the short axis direction changes, the interface circuit and the switch control RAM are switched to the switch circuit 8 connected to each transducer 71.
2, the initial connection information on an arbitrary short axis scanning plane may be transmitted to the switch circuit 82. For example, when the scanning plane of the short axis of the probe 69 changes, all the switch circuits 82
Is opened, the switch connection information in the L63 column is transmitted, and then the switch connection information in the L62 column is transmitted. By repeating such an operation to the L0 column, scanning can be performed. As described above, after the initial connection information is transmitted to the switch circuit 82, by performing the normal scanning in the long axis direction, the scanning plane in the short axis direction can be changed.

With such a configuration, the switch control RAM of the interface circuit stores
It is not necessary to perform different opening / closing control for each switch circuit 82 leading to the above, and transmit and receive ultrasonic waves in a direction perpendicular to the normal direction of the transducer surface 75 formed by the transducer 71. Thus, the opening and closing control of each switch circuit 82 connected to each transducer 71 can be simplified.

Such a probe 69 transmits and receives ultrasonic waves in a direction perpendicular to the normal direction of the transducer surface 35 by using both the main body 3 of the ultrasonic device and the display monitor 5. The number of terminals of the semiconductor substrate 21 can be reduced, and an ultrasonic tomographic image with good ultrasonic transmission / reception sensitivity can be obtained.

In the above embodiment, the switch circuits 19 and 82 may have a multilayer structure. According to this, the size of the switch circuits 19 and 82 can be further reduced, so that even if the number of transducers and ultrasonic transmission / reception channels increases, the size of the switch circuits can be suppressed, which is preferable.

Further, according to the probe 1 and the probe 69 according to the present invention, the transmission / reception sensitivity of ultrasonic waves in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is improved, and the user of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus can obtain an image effective for diagnosis. Can be obtained, and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus can be more useful for diagnosis.

[0051]

According to the present invention, the ultrasonic transmission / reception sensitivity can be improved without increasing the size of the ultrasonic probe and enabling the use of many ultrasonic transducers.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a main part of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including a probe according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an assignment relationship between a transducer and a transmission / reception channel.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing transmission and reception directions of ultrasonic waves of a probe in the case of the channel allocation of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a vibrator and a switch circuit.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing another transmitting and receiving direction of ultrasonic waves of the ultrasonic probe.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating connection between a transducer of a probe and a transmission / reception channel in the transmission / reception direction of the ultrasonic wave in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a probe according to another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation of the probe of FIG. 7;

9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating channel assignment when the short axis scanning position of the probe of FIG. 7 is the center and the long axis scanning position is the scanning start end.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating channel assignment in a state where the short-axis scanning position is the same as that in FIG. 9 and the long-axis scanning position is shifted by one.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 ultrasonic probe 5 display monitor 9 transmission circuit 11 reception circuit 13 tomographic image display circuit 15 control circuit 17, 71 ultrasonic transducer 19, 82 switch circuit 21 substrate 23 interface circuit 25 switch control RAM 47, 83 decoder circuit 55 , 91 Latch circuit 63 Address decoder circuit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2G047 BA03 CA01 DB02 EA05 EA10 EA11 EA15 GA02 GA03 GB02 GB17 GB21 GB28 GB32 4C301 AA02 BB22 EE06 EE11 EE12 EE16 GA02 GB02 GB22 GB33 GB40 5D019 AA21 AA25 BB19 AFF18 BC18 AB18 BC08

Claims (1)

[Claims] A plurality of ultrasonic transducers formed using a semiconductor substrate and a plurality of switch circuits for turning on / off an ultrasonic signal transmitted and received between each ultrasonic transducer and a transmission / reception circuit. An ultrasonic probe, wherein the switch circuit is formed on the semiconductor substrate on which the ultrasonic transducer is formed, and a connection wiring between the switch circuit and the ultrasonic transducer is formed by a semiconductor manufacturing technique. .