Intracardiac ultrasound catheter using a micromachine (MEMS) actuator

Catheter based intracardiac ultrasound offers the potential for improved guidance of interventional cardiac procedures. The objective of this work is the development of catheter based, forward-looking mechanical sector scanners incorporating high frequency ultrasound transducers operating at frequencies up to 20 MHz. The current transducer assembly consists of a single 20 MHz PZT piston mounted on a polyimide table that pivots on gold plated polyimide hinges. This table-mounted transducer is tilted using a linear MEMS actuator to produce a sector scan. The prototype transducer/actuator assembly was fabricated and interfaced with a personal computer to create a single channel ultrasound scanner. This paper discusses the development of and results obtained by this real time scanning system.