title: The design and testing of an epi-retinal vision prosthesis neurostimulator capable of concurrent parallel stimulation.
abstract: An application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) neurostimulator capable of stimulating multiple electrodes in unison has been designed and tested. The ASIC utilizes multiple matched current sinks and sources to provide localized stimulation and is designed to drive electrodes organized in a hexagonal mosaic. This organization allows each stimulating electrode to be surrounded by up to six return electrodes, effectively isolating each stimulation site. The ASIC was manufactured using a high-voltage complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor process, which allows up to 20 V to be applied across the circuitry. This provides the greatest versatility for testing with electrodes and tissues of varying impedances in-situ and allows the device to be used in other neurostimulation applications such as functional electrical stimulation. The design has been thoroughly tested and meets all the design specifications.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Sch. of Biomed. Eng., New South Wales Univ., Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dommel
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Preston
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lehmann
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Lovell
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Suaning
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D003201:Computers; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000628:therapy; D008838:Microcomputers; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D019919:Prosthesis Implantation; D011846:Radio Waves; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology*; D012174:Retinitis Pigmentosa / Q000628:therapy; D012984:Software; D014785:Vision, Ocular