Micromachines (Dec 2017)

Design of a Compact Wireless Multi-Channel High Area-Efficient Stimulator with Arbitrary Channel Configuration

  • Yuwei Zhang,
  • Deng Luo,
  • Ting Ou,
  • Zhangyi Yuan,
  • Heng Huang,
  • Ling You,
  • Yin Yue,
  • Milin Zhang,
  • Dongmei Li,
  • Guolin Li,
  • Kexin Yuan,
  • Zhihua Wang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/mi9010006
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
p. 6

Abstract

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This paper presents the design of a wireless, implantable, multi-channel, programmable stimulator with arbitrary channel combination. A novel channel management module using a switch array is presented, enabling arbitrary channel configuration with a silicon area reduction of 81%. The chip was fabricated in a 0.18- μ m Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company (TSMC) high voltage (HV) complementary metal–oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. A stimulator system was realized using the proposed integrated circuit (IC). A wireless communication link was established between a specified Android-based graphical user interface (GUI) and the proposed device for control of the stimulation pattern and wireless battery charging. The size of the entire system occupies a volume of only 14 mm × 14 mm × 4 mm (without the battery). Experimental results demonstrated a successful independent configuration between different channels, as well as an arbitrary channel combination, as expected.

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