Special Topic of Biomedical Chips and Svstems
ZHENG Hao, WU Jialei, YIN Simeng, QIN Jinzhe, LI Zihan, Chen Peidong, CAO Kangkang, LI Jianye, PAN Yanjie, ZHOU Yixin, LI Xiaguang, WANG Keping
Electrical stimulation technology has been widely applied in various biomedical fields, including cardiac pacemakers, cochlear implants, muscle reconstruction, vision restoration, and epilepsy suppression. Compared to traditional drug therapies or surgical methods, electrical stimulation offers advantages such as reduced invasiveness, greater flexibility, improved recoverability, and the elimination of risks associated with drug dependency and addiction. Due to the advantages of integrated circuits, including low power consumption, high reliability, strong programmability, ease of multifunctional integration, and suitability for mass production, they have recently become the primary choice for designing electrical stimulators, meeting the demands for miniaturized, intelligent, and cost-effective biomedical applications. However, the integration of high-density electrodes with stimulation-generating circuits presents significant challenges in designing electrode-tissue interfaces. This paper begins with the electrode-tissue interface and provides a comprehensive overview of integrated circuit design for implantable electrical stimulators, including fundamental driver circuit topologies and high-performance complex designs. It emphasizes the analysis of the reliability and safety of biomedical implantable chips and introduces innovative designs that integrate stimulators with energy harvesting modules in closed-loop systems. This review also discusses the future directions of electrical stimulation technology and interface systems including our research group's work on electrical stimulation and interface circuits.