Implantable biosensing is attractive for both medical monitoring and diagnostic applications. It is possible to monitor phenomena such as physical loads on joints or implants, vital signs, or osseointegration in vivo and in real time. Microelectromechanical (MEMS)-based generation techniques can allow for the autonomous operation of implantable biosensors by generating electrical power to replace or supplement existing battery-based power systems. By supplementing existing battery-based power systems for implantable biosensors, the operational lifetime of the sensor is increased. In addition, the potential for a greater amount of available power allows additional components to be added to the biosensing module, such as computational and wireless and components, improving functionality and performance of the biosensor. Photovoltaic, thermovoltaic, micro fuel cell, electrostatic, electromagnetic, and piezoelectric based generation schemes are evaluated in this paper for applicability for implantable biosensing. MEMS-based generation techniques that harvest ambient energy, such as vibration, are much better suited for implantable biosensing applications than fuel-based approaches, producing up to milliwatts of electrical power. High power density MEMS-based approaches, such as piezoelectric and electromagnetic schemes, allow for supplemental and replacement power schemes for biosensing applications to improve device capabilities and performance. In addition, this may allow for the biosensor to be further miniaturized, reducing the need for relatively large batteries with respect to device size. This would cause the implanted biosensor to be less invasive, increasing the quality of care received by the patient.

No abstract

No abstract

Two-dimensional ultrasound arrays hold great promise for 3-D imaging; however, wiring of each channel becomes impractical for large arrays or for small-footprint catheter probes for which the number of wires must be limited. Capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers offer a promising solution for such 2-D array applications, but channel routing is still non-trivial. A top-orthogonal-to-bottom-electrode (TOBE) 2-D CMUT array architecture is presented along with row-column addressing schemes for low-channel-count 3-D ultrasound imaging. An N × N TOBE array is capable of obtaining 3-D images using only 2N channels. An interfacing scheme is presented in which transmit-receive signals are routed along rows while bias voltages are applied along columns, effectively allowing for single-element transmit/receive control. Simulations demonstrated potentially finer resolution and improved side lobe suppression over a previously published row-column-based imaging method. Laser vibrometer testing was done to measure membrane displacement in air and confirmed that single-element air-coupled actuation in transmit mode could be achieved using our proposed interfacing scheme. Acoustic testing was also performed in both transmit and receive modes to characterize the ability of the proposed interfacing scheme to achieve dominant-element transmission and reception in immersion operation. It was seen that membrane displacement in both modes was indeed largely confined to the active area.

In this article, we report on the new design of a miniaturized strain microsensor. The proposed sensor utilizes the piezoresistive properties of doped single crystal silicon. Employing the Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, high sensor sensitivities and resolutions have been achieved. The current sensor design employs different levels of signal amplifications. These amplifications include geometric, material and electronic levels. The sensor and the electronic circuits can be integrated on a single chip, and packaged as a small functional unit. The sensor converts input strain to resistance change, which can be transformed to bridge imbalance voltage. An analog output that demonstrates high sensitivity (0.03mV/με), high absolute resolution (1με) and low power consumption (100μA) with a maximum range of ±4000με has been reported. These performance characteristics have been achieved with high signal stability over a wide temperature range (±50°C), which introduces the proposed MEMS strain sensor as a strong candidate for wireless strain sensing applications under harsh environmental conditions. Moreover, this sensor has been designed, verified and can be easily modified to measure other values such as force, torque…etc. In this work, the sensor design is achieved using Finite Element Method (FEM) with the application of the piezoresistivity theory. This design process and the microfabrication process flow to prototype the design have been presented.