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An Integrated Power Recovery Module Dedicated to Implantable Electronic Devices

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Abstract

This paper concerns the design and implementation of an inductively coupled RF telemetry for both power and data transferring to implantable microelectronic devices. The major shortcomings of available inductive powering designs are their low power-transfer efficiency and large size of the implantable unit. Therefore, there is a need to fully integrate interfacing module of the implantable unit. The presented power recovery module is dedicated to the biotelemetry application of cortical/nerve stimulation. The proposed strategy allows providing dual regulated output voltages 3.3 V/1.8 V to the electrodes driver and other implantable circuitry, respectively. Its low dropout voltage makes high power efficiency attainable. Fabricated integrated prototype in a CMOS 0.18 μm technology has demonstrated its feasibility, providing a load current driving ability of 5 mA for each one of the two supply voltages.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. PolyStim Neurotechnology Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada

    Yamu Hu & Mohamad Sawan

  2. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, McGill University, Canada

    Mourad N. El-Gamal

  3. Department of Electrical Engineering, 2900 Edouard Montpetit, École Polytechnique de Montréal, P.O.Box 6079, Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, (QC), Canada, H3C 3A7

    Mohamad Sawan

Authors
  1. Yamu Hu
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  2. Mohamad Sawan
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  3. Mourad N. El-Gamal
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Correspondence to Mohamad Sawan.

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Yamu Hu received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Huazhong University of Science & Technology (HUST), Wuhan, P. R. China, in 1993, and the M.S. degree in electronics engineering from Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal, Canada, in 2000. He is currently working toward the Ph.D degree in electronics engineering at the same university. His research interest includes low-noise, low-power Analog/Mixed-Signal IC’s for biomedical applications, RF front-end for wireless communications.

Mohamad Sawan received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from Université Laval, Canada in 1984, the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees, both in electrical engineering, from Université de Sherbrooke, Canada, in 1986 and 1990 respectively, and postdoctorate training from McGill University, Canada in 1991. He joined Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal in 1991 where he is currently a Professor in Microelectronics.

His scientific interests are the design and test of mixed-signal (analog, digital and RF) circuits and systems, the digital and analog signal processing, the modeling, design, integration, assembly and validation of advanced wirelessly powered and controlled monitoring and measurement techniques. These topics are oriented toward the biomedical implantable devices and telecommunications applications. Dr. Sawan is a holder of a Canadian Research Chair in Smart Medical Devices. He is leading the ReSMiQ (Microelectronics Strategic Alliance of Quebec) research center. He is founder of the Eastern Canadian IEEE-Solid State Circuits Society Chapter and the IEEE-Northeastern workshop on Circuits and Systems (NewCAS). Also, he is cofounder of the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society, and founder of PolySTIM neurotechnology laboratory at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal.

He published more than 250 papers in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings and was awarded 6 patents. He is editor of the Springer Mixed-signal Letters, Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE CAS Society. He received the Barbara Turnbull 2003 award for spinal cord research. He is Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and Fellow of the IEEE.

Mourad El-Gamal received the B.Sc. degree with Honours from Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, in 1987, the M.Sc. degree from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, in 1993, and the Ph.D. degree from McGill University, Montré al, Canada, in 1998, all in electrical engineering.

He is currently an Associate Professor and William Dawson Scholar at McGill University. His research interests include integrated circuits and MEMS for communications applications, on which he has published many papers, and most recently contributed to a chapter on low voltage 5-GHz RFIC front-ends, published by the IEE in 2003. He has received several teaching awards and recognitions, and holds one patent. He was on leave of absence from McGill in 2002 to assume the role of Director of Engineering, then Vice President, of the Wireless Business Unit of MEMSCAP, headquartered in France—a 165 employee, publicly trading company specializing in MEMS. He oversaw all the business and technical aspects in different sites around the world related to RF-MEMS devices, RFICs, and millimeter-wave passive circuits. Earlier, he worked for the French telecommunications company ALCATEL and was a Member of the Technical Staff at IBM. He regularly serves as a consultant for leading microelectronics companies in North America and in Europe.

Dr. El-Gamal is a member of the Analog Signal Processing Technical Committee of the IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS) Society, and is a member of the Technical Committee of the Bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting (BCTM). He was a Guest Editor for the October 2004 issue of the Journal of Solid-State Circuits. He is the co-recipient of several research awards, the most recent being the 2003 Myril B. Reed Best Paper Award of the IEEE International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems for work on frequency synthesizer covering the lower and upper bands of 5 GHz WLANs.

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Hu, Y., Sawan, M. & El-Gamal, M.N. An Integrated Power Recovery Module Dedicated to Implantable Electronic Devices. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 43, 171–181 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-005-6790-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-005-6790-5

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