Abstract
The quality of life for patients with sensory loss can be drastically improved by the use of biomedical implantable electronics. The implantable electronics can replace the functions of sensory organs that are congenitally defective or damaged by accidents. In the field of neural prosthesis, these implantable devices are often the most important constituents of the whole system. Two neural prosthetic devices are commercially available at present; the cochlear implant for the severely hearing impaired, and the deep brain stimulator for Parkinson’s disease patients. Under development is a device for the vision impaired, known as artificial vision or a retinal implant.
A neural prosthetic device consists of an internal implant, an external processor, and a telemetry module connecting the two. The external processor determines electrical stimulation parameters for a sensory input, encodes them, and transmits the encoded data to the implant unit. Often power for the implant electronics is also delivered from outside by telemetry. The implanted electronics then receives data, decodes them, and generates stimulation waveforms. These waveforms are sent to the electrode array to deliver charges to stimulate target neurons.
Unlike the ICs used in consumer electronics, safety is the number one concern for implantable devices in humans. Not only must the materials be biocompatible, but also any signals presented to the body must be proven safe. Long-term reliability of the neural interface is another concern. Due to glial tissue encapsulation, the impedance of the electrode-tissue interface can change over time.
In this chapter we consider two representative IC design examples of biomedical implantable electronics: cochlear and retinal implants. Low power design is critical in these applications. For example, in a cochlear implant, the typical power consumption of the current products is on the order of 100 milliwatts. The power depends on the number of channels or stimulation electrodes. While the number stays on the order of 10 for effective stimulation in cochlear implants, the number of required channels, or pixels, is expected to be on the order of 1000 for reasonable visual acuity in retinal implants. Thus low power design is essential for future biomedical implant systems. Here we discuss some of the design examples that have been implemented so far, but further innovative ideas are critically needed to ensure the success of future products.
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Kim, S.J. (2011). Low Power Design Challenge in Biomedical Implantable Electronics. In: Kyung, CM., Yoo, S. (eds) Energy-Aware System Design. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1679-7_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1679-7_11
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