SNR of Multi-Channel RF Coil Arrays for High-Field Brain Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

We performed a comparative study of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 16-channel and 4-channel radio-frequency (RF) coil arrays for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 7.0 Tesla (300 MHz). The Combined-Field Integral-Equation (CFIE) method was employed to resolve the fine geometric structures in coil arrays. The numerical approach is verified by MRI experiments of the 16-channel array at first and then applied to the 4-channel array. Results show that increasing the number of channels greatly benefits the average SNR and its coverage.