IEEE Trans Biomed Circuits Syst. 2009 Jun;3(3):129-41. doi: 10.1109/TBCAS.2009.2013718.
We present a multichip structure assembled with a medical-grade stainless-steel microelectrode array intended for neural recordings from multiple channels. The design features a mixed-signal integrated circuit (IC) that handles conditioning, digitization, and time-division multiplexing of neural signals, and a digital IC that provides control, bandwidth reduction, and data communications for telemetry toward a remote host. Bandwidth reduction is achieved through action potential detection and complete capture of waveforms by means of onchip data buffering. The adopted architecture uses high parallelism and low-power building blocks for safety and long-term implantability. Both ICs are fabricated in a CMOS 0.18-mum process and are subsequently mounted on the base of the microelectrode array. The chips are stacked according to a vertical integration approach for better compactness. The presented device integrates 16 channels, and is scalable to hundreds of recording channels. Its performance was validated on a testbench with synthetic neural signals. The proposed interface presents a power consumption of 138 muW per channel, a size of 2.30 mm(2), and achieves a bandwidth reduction factor of up to 48 with typical recordings.
我们提出了一种多芯片结构，它由一个医用级不锈钢微电极阵列组装而成，用于从多个通道进行神经记录。该设计采用了混合信号集成电路（IC），用于处理神经信号的调理、数字化和时分复用，以及数字 IC，用于提供控制、带宽降低和遥测数据通信。带宽降低是通过动作电位检测和通过片上数据缓冲器完全捕获波形来实现的。所采用的架构使用高并行性和低功耗的构建块来实现安全性和长期植入性。这两个 IC 都是在 0.18 微米的 CMOS 工艺中制造的，然后安装在微电极阵列的底座上。芯片根据垂直集成的方法进行堆叠，以获得更好的紧凑性。所提出的设备集成了 16 个通道，可扩展到数百个记录通道。它的性能在一个具有合成神经信号的测试台上进行了验证。所提出的接口每通道的功耗为 138 μW，尺寸为 2.30mm2，并在典型记录中实现高达 48 的带宽降低因子。
