Design of a compact wireless multi-channel high area-efficient stimulator with arbitrary channel configuration

Abstract

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-μm 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 14mm× 14mm× 4mm(without the battery). Experimental results demonstrated a successful independent configuration between different channels, as well as an arbitrary channel combination, as expected.