Abstract: An ultrasonic system and method for imaging a surface wherein a C-mode ultrasonic scan is performed over a fixed area of the surface and range gating is applied to that area to a given depth below the surface. For use of the system and method in fingerprint imaging, a live finger is placed upon a sensitive surface, the portion of the finger on the surface is scanned using the ultrasonic energy, and ultrasonic energy returned from the finger portion is received and converted into spatial frequency components to determine the pattern of ridges and valleys of the fingerprint.