Design of Wireless Links to Implanted Brain–Machine Interface Microelectronic Systems

This letter presents a monolithic integration of an antenna with an array of neural recording electrodes on a flexible thin film. The structure was designed for long-term neural recording in a wireless brain-machine interface system. The implant-on-body antenna pair is optimized for maximal link power efficiency to maximize the battery life of a portable outside-body control unit. We provide guidelines for the design of the sub-skin-depth implant antenna and validate the antenna simulation model with wireless link measurements in air. We propose a new computational analysis of both the power and voltage delivery to the battery-free implant under design variations to guarantee efficient on-chip RF-to-dc conversion.

[1]  G. Schalk,et al.  Brain-Computer Interfaces Using Electrocorticographic Signals , 2011, IEEE Reviews in Biomedical Engineering.

[2]  J. Rabaey,et al.  A 1mm3 2Mbps 330fJ/b transponder for implanted neural sensors , 2011, 2011 Symposium on VLSI Circuits - Digest of Technical Papers.

[3]  Aaron C. Koralek,et al.  Corticostriatal plasticity is necessary for learning intentional neuroprosthetic skills , 2012, Nature.

[4]  Teresa H. Y. Meng,et al.  A mm-sized implantable power receiver with adaptive link compensation , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference - Digest of Technical Papers.

[5]  Miguel A. L. Nicolelis,et al.  Brain–machine interfaces: past, present and future , 2006, Trends in Neurosciences.

[6]  Lauri Sydanheimo,et al.  SAR reduction and link optimization for mm-size remotely powered wireless implants using segmented loop antennas , 2011, 2011 IEEE Topical Conference on Biomedical Wireless Technologies, Networks, and Sensing Systems.

[7]  R. W. Lau,et al.  The dielectric properties of biological tissues: III. Parametric models for the dielectric spectrum of tissues. , 1996, Physics in medicine and biology.

[8]  Ralph S. Carson.  High-frequency amplifiers , 1975 .

[9]  Toni Bjorninen,et al.  Performance of Single and Double T-matched Short Dipole Tag Antennas for UHF RFID Systems , 2011 .

[10]  Jan M. Rabaey,et al.  Powering and communicating with mm-size implants , 2011, 2011 Design, Automation & Test in Europe.

[11]  Rizwan Bashirullah,et al.  A 20µW neural recording tag with supply-current-modulated AFE in 0.13µm CMOS , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference - (ISSCC).

[12]  J. Chae,et al.  Wireless performance of a fully passive neurorecording microsystem embedded in dispersive human head phantom , 2012, Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation.

[13]  M. Maharbiz,et al.  Fabrication and testing of a large area, high density, parylene MEMS µECoG array , 2011, 2011 IEEE 24th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems.