Ultrasonic

Scanning Acoustic Microscope – TicoTico

Scanning acoustic microscope TicoTico enables ultrasonic measurements over a wide frequency range. TicoTico can drive ultrasound transducers with centre frequency roughly up till 350 MHz (beam diameter at focus ~ 4 µm). Pulser-Receiver can be used for pulse-echo and through-transmission measurements. The scanning area in x-y direction is 300 mm and in z direction 50 mm (Zaber). For smoother and more precise scanning, SAM equipment is placed on a custom built vibration isolated table with a mass equal to a big Harley Davidson. Liquid filled measurement tanks are temperature controlled and can be manually adjusted to obtain perfect alignment between the transducer and the sample.

Specifications:
DPR500 Dual pulser/Receiver board (JSR Ultrasonics)

  • Receiver 500 MHz – Gain: -22 to +50 dB
  • Receiver 50 MHz – Gain: -13 to +55 dB
  • 0.001 – 500 MHz frequency range
  • LabVIEW controlled pulser and receiver parameters
  • Internal low and high pass filters

ADQ 112 Analog-to-Digital converter board (SP Devices)

  • 1.1 GHz sampling rate
  • 12-bits digitizer resolution
  • 170 MSamples data memory
  • LabView controlled
Fig 1. Scanning Acoustic Microscope.

Intra Vascular Ultrasound – IVUS

A clinical high frequency intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) device (ClearView Ultra, Boston Scientific Corporation, San Jose, CA, USA), equipped with an 9 and 40 MHz ultrasound catheters enables ultrasound imaging and determination of reflection and backscattering parameters.

Specifications:
Catheters

  • 9 MHz: diameter = 2.8 mm, -6 dB bandwidth 7.1-11.0 MHz
  • 40 MHz, –6 dB bandwidth, 30.1 to 45.3 MHz

Data acquisition

  • Sampling frequency of 250 MHz and resolution of 8 bits using a digital oscilloscope (LeCroy Corporation, Wave Runner 6051A, Chestnut Ridge, NY, USA)

US – Key

US-Key is small sized pulser-receiver controlled via USB interface. Thus, it is in use for portable solutions and quick tests on the laboratory. US-key can be operated in both, Pulse echo and through transmission modes.

Specifications:
US-key Pulser/Receiver board (Lecoeur Electronique)

  • – 6 dB bandwidth : 540 KHz to 18 MHz
  • Pulser 30 – 230 V, with steps of a 5 V
  • Pulse width (-6 dB) 16.6 – 480 ns, with steps of a 6 ns
  • Pulse fall time 5.2 – 7.8 ns
  • LabVIEW controlled pulser and receiver parameters

US-key Analog-to-Digital converter

  • 160 MHz samping rate – Gain: 0 to +80 dB
  • 12-bit resolution
  • LabView controlled
Fig 2. US key.

Scanning Acoustic Microscope (Old) – UltraPAC

UltraPAC-system (Physical Acoustics Corporation, Princetown, NJ, USA) is mostly suitable for measurements at frequencies from 200kHz to 100MHz. The A/D-board (PAC-AD-500) enables measurements using a sample rate up to 500 MHz. The UltraPAC system is also equipped with a tank and scanning drives which enables A-, B- or C-mode measurements in pulse-echo or through-transmission geometry.

Specifications:
PAC-IPR-100 pulser receiver board

  • 105 dB dynamic range receiver
  • Gain: -25 to +80 dB programmable in 1 dB steps
  • 0.2 – 100 MHz frequency range
  • LabVIEW controlled pulser and receiver parameters
  • Up to 400 Vdc spike pulser with < 5nSec rise time

PAC-AD-500 Analog-to-Digital converter board

  • 500 MHz base conversion rate
  • 100 MHz bandwith –3 dB, X1 and X10 gain
  • External, internal or analog threshold triggering
  • Input: range +/-0.1 V or +/- 1.0 V, impedance 50 ohms to 1 k ohms, bandwith 100 kHz to 100 MHz
  • 8-bit linear resolution, dynamic range > 42 dB
  • LabView controlled
Fig 3. UltraPAC.