A CMOS multichannel electrical stimulation prototype system

We developed an inductively powered integrated electronic prosthesis, allowing for the trade-offs among implant functionality, circuit complexity, power consumption, hardware cost, and integrity of data recovery, for a multichannel microstimulation circuitry. The proposed prosthesis features energy efficiency and is capable of up to 40 scan/s with 240 stimulus channels in mode I and three times resolution at the same scan rate in mode II under a carrier frequency of 2 MHz. In order to satisfy future upgrade demands, the prototype has been constructed with a 16-channel-based stimulation scheme so that the spatial resolution of the design can be extended toward various experimental purposes. The circuit techniques used in the system are detailed. Results from fabricated chips using a 0.18-μm CMOS process are given as proof of concept.