Summary: Researchers have developed an 8-channel neurological stimulation device that delivers exponential pulses with 98 % energy efficiency, marking a milestone for brain-machine interface and neurological modification. The device addresses important issues with neurological stimulus, such as cost imbalance and the need for high energy efficiency, making safer and more effective treatments for conditions like Parkinson’s disease and cervical injuries.
With its innovative charge-balancing system, the system can induce neurons without damaging tissues, making it ideal for high-voltage applications. This development might lead to more effective brain-machine interface and more effective neurological treatments.
Important Facts:
- The device produces exponential frequencies while maintaining a energy efficiency of 98 %.
- Advanced charge-balancing reduces remaining command to less than 3 machine per period.
- It securely stimulates cells, enabling more effective therapies for neurological conditions.
Origin: ELSP
A book high-voltage 8-channel neural stimulation chip with advanced charge-balancing features and 98 % output energy efficiency has been created.
Published in , Neuroelectronics, this miracle has the potential to improve neurological modification and brain-machine software devices, ensuring safer and more effective remedies for neurological problems.
Neural modification offers considerable promise in treating conditions like Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and motors function resulting from cervical injuries. But, precise control is necessary to deliver electrical signals to neurons in order to avoid tissue injury while maintaining higher efficiency.
In response to this problem, Tianjin University Professor Biao Sun and Associate Professor Xu Liu from Beijing University of Technology, in collaboration with researchers from Southern University of Science and Technology and Tianjin University, have created a cutting-edge 8-channel neurological stimulation device that improves both health and energy efficiency in neurological modification techniques.
” This chip design represents a significant development in neural modulation,” says Professor Biao Sun.
” With 98 % power efficiency and a robust charge-balancing mechanism, this device safely stimulates neurons without causing harmful tissue damage, even in high-voltage applications”.
The newly developed chip delivers exponentially decaying currents, which are more power-efficient than traditional constant-current stimulators. Its 30-volt output stage ensures compatibility with high-impedance electrodes, which are common in modern neural stimulation applications.
Lead researcher Xu Liu emphasizes,” The exponential waveform output significantly boosts efficiency and charge transfer, overcoming the challenges posed by high-impedance electrodes”.
Charge imbalance, which can result in ion imbalance and tissue damage, is a major issue with neural stimulation. The team addressed this by incorporating an active charge-balancing circuit and a dual-slope control scheme into each channel, which reduced residual charge during each stimulation cycle to less than 3 nC.
The chip, fabricated using 180-nm BCD CMOS process technology with a core area of 13.25 mm², underwent extensive testing. The Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine led by Shenjun Wang, Lin Zheng, and Xue Zhao, demonstrated how the stimulant effectively causes muscle contractions and action potentials. Their measurements confirmed stable, multi-cycle outputs without residual charge accumulation.
The chip demonstrated its ability to induce precise motor responses without tissue damage in animal experiments by successfully stimulating the vagus and sciatic nerves of anesthetized rats.
The performance of the device was verified by a series of rigorous biological testing carried out in collaboration with Professor Hao Yu and Liuyang Zhang from the Southern University of Science and Technology.
According to Professor Hao Yu,” This chip has the potential to have a significant impact on the creation of brain-machine interface systems and other biomedical devices.”
Its high power efficiency and ability to charge-balance could make for safer and more effective treatments for a variety of neurological conditions.
The advancements in chip design, such as advanced prosthetics or bioelectronic devices, could be inspired by developments in industrial settings requiring precise electrical stimulation, in addition to medical applications.
With a 20V output and a charge imbalance as low as 2.9 nC, the neural stimulation chip achieves exceptional performance. It offers both exponential and constant-current stimulation modes and is compatible with high-impedance electrode-tissue interfaces. It operates effectively at up to 30V.
This design, according to Professor Biao Sun, “posses a new standard for power efficiency and safety in neural stimulation.”
This study represents a crucial step toward more effective and safer neural treatments, despite the team’s acknowledgement of the need for further refinement in capturing complex neural interactions.
About this news from neurotech research
Author: Jenny He
Source: ELSP
Contact: Jenny He – ELSP
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Closed access.
Biao Sun et al.,” An 8-channel, high-voltage neural stimulation IC with an output of exponential waveforms.” Neuroelectronics
Abstract
An 8-channel, high-voltage neural stimulation IC with an output of exponential waveforms
This paper presents the design of a high-voltage 8-channel neural stimulation integrated circuit with exponential-waveform output. To ensure sufficient current delivery to the load, which exhibits large impedance at the electrode-tissue interface, a high-voltage output stage of up to 30 V has been implemented in the neural stimulator.
Charge balancing is accomplished by a dual-slope control scheme with an integrator circuit during stimulation, which is further enhanced by an additional active charge-balancing circuit in each channel.
This work also demonstrates that the stimulator’s compatibility with traditional charge-balancing circuits and its ability to operate even with a high-voltage output stage is demonstrated by this work.
These features ensure safety and higher power efficiency in long-term stimulation. The 8-channel high-voltage stimulator chip is implemented using 180-nm BCD CMOS process technology, with a core area of 13.25 mm².
Experimental results show that a single cycle’s maximum charge imbalance is only 0. 77 %, but that the output power efficiency can reach 98 %.
The stimulator effectively removes residual charges, according to in vitro and in vivo experiments, and the exponential-waveform stimulation successfully triggers action potentials that cause muscle contraction.
