A miniaturized neuroprosthesis suitable for implantation into the brain

Abstract

This paper presents current research on a miniaturized neuroprosthesis suitable for implantation into the brain. The prosthesis is a heterogeneous integration of a 100-element microelectromechanical system (MEMS) electrode array, front-end complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit for neural signal preamplification, filtering, multiplexing and analog-to-digital conversion, and a second CMOS integrated circuit for wireless transmission of neural data and conditioning of wireless power. The prosthesis is intended for applications where neural signals are processed and decoded to permit the control of artificial or paralyzed limbs. This research, if successful, will allow implantation of the electronics into the brain, or subcutaneously on the skull, and eliminate all external signal and power wiring. The neuroprosthetic system design has strict size and power constraints with each of the front-end preamplifier channels fitting within the 400 x 400-microm pitch of the 100-element MEMS electrode array and power dissipation resulting in less than a 1 degree C temperature rise for the surrounding brain tissue. We describe the measured performance of initial micropower low-noise CMOS preamplifiers for the neuroprosthetic.

Design strategies for multi-channel low-noise recording systems

“…Recently, the parallel recording of signals from many sites has become feasible, allowing examination of the behaviour of whole cell populations. Massive parallel recording from neurons has been reported using micro-electromechanical (MEMS) electrode arrays [37], on-chip electrodes [41] and micromachined probes [16,30]. In nerve signal (ENG) recording the multi-electrode cuff has been introduced to record signals at many locations as they propagate along the nerve.…”

“…Time-interleaved multiplexers typically follow preamplification of the signal [7,9,14,16,25,30,37,38]. This placement is ideal for low-noise recording as discussed in Sect.…”

Retinamorphic color Schrödinger metamedia

“…The latter media are used for creation of the eye-prosthesis (so called the "silicon eye"). The medium suggested can serve as the prosthesis prototype for perception of the color images [9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

The Role of Nanomedicine in Growing Tissues

“…That is, a significant problem based on the development of chronic CNS electrodes is device failure associated with a fibrotic response mediated by glial cells. 40,58 For overcoming this problem, McKenzie et al 53 focused on the development of novel carbon nanofiber based electrode arrays for CNS neuronal stimulation using compressed carbon nanofibers with reinforcing polycarbonate urethane. The researchers suggested that strong interactions with neurons on carbon nanofibers limited astrocyte (glial scar tissue-forming cells) functions leading to decreased gliotic scar tissue formation.…”