title: Neuron Stimulation Device Integrated with Silicon Nanowire-Based Photodetection Circuit on a Flexible Substrate.
abstract: This paper proposes a neural stimulation device integrated with a silicon nanowire (SiNW)-based photodetection circuit for the activation of neurons with light. The proposed device is comprised of a voltage divider and a current driver in which SiNWs are used as photodetector and field-effect transistors; it has the functions of detecting light, generating a stimulation signal in proportion to the light intensity, and transmitting the signal to a micro electrode. To show the applicability of the proposed neural stimulation device as a high-resolution retinal prosthesis system, a high-density neural stimulation device with a unit cell size of 110 × 110 μ m and a resolution of 32 × 32 was fabricated on a flexible film with a thickness of approximately 50 μm. Its effectiveness as a retinal stimulation device was then evaluated using a unit cell in an in vitro animal experiment involving the retinal tissue of retinal Degeneration 1 (rd1) mice. Experiments wherein stimulation pulses were applied to the retinal tissues successfully demonstrate that the number of spikes in neural response signals increases in proportion to light intensity.
authors.affiliation: ISRC/ASRI, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea. jungsw@keti.re.kr.|Human Care System Research Center, Convergence System R&D Division, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, 25 Saenari-ro, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do 13509, Korea. jungsw@keti.re.kr.
authors.forename: Suk Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: ISRC/ASRI, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea. jshin33@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jong Yoon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: ISRC/ASRI, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea. khpi1@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Kilwha
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, 1 Chungdae-ro, Seowon-gu, Cheongju, Chungbuk 28644, Korea. ysgoo@chungbuk.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Yong Sook
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Goo
authors.affiliation: ISRC/ASRI, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea. dicho@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Dong-Il Dan
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004566:Electrodes; D051379:Mice; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology; D012162:Retinal Degeneration / Q000628:therapy; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D014173:Transistors, Electronic; D057488:Visual Prosthesis
chemical_list: D012825:Silicon
keywords: micro electrode; neuron stimulation; photodetector; retinal prosthesis; silicon nanowire