A 16-channel electrode driver with precise calibration for electrical neural stimulation

Electrical Neural Stimulation (ENS) has already been used in many aspects of rehabilitation medicine as a treatment method. Electrode driver is a part of the stimulator which is used to deliver stimulus current to neural tissues via electrodes. In this paper, we present a 16-channel electrode driver with precise calibration for electrical neural stimulation. An improved negative-feedback self-calibration scheme with digital calibration is proposed to generate precise matched biphasic current pulses. The simulation results show that the maximum current mismatch is around 25nA. The electrode driver was fabricated in 0.18-μm CMOS high voltage process with a die size of 2.4mm*1mm.

[1]  Hoi Lee,et al.  Biphasic-current-pulse self-calibration techniques for monopolar current stimulation , 2009, 2009 IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference.

[2]  E. Skafidas,et al.  A Flexible Electrode Driver Using 65 nm CMOS Process for 1024-Electrode Epi-Retinal Prosthesis , 2010, 2010 5th International Conference on Future Information Technology.

[3]  Maurits Ortmanns,et al.  An Active Approach for Charge Balancing in Functional Electrical Stimulation , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems.

[4]  R. Shepherd,et al.  Chronic electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve using non-charge-balanced stimuli. , 1999, Acta oto-laryngologica.

[5]  Albrecht Rothermel,et al.  A CMOS Chip With Active Pixel Array and Specific Test Features for Subretinal Implantation , 2009, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[6]  Anthony Lam,et al.  A Matching Technique for Biphasic Stimulation Pulse , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.