人工網膜用LSIへの非接触給電

摘要

We have proposed a novel retinal prosthesis module with a three-dimensionally stacked artificial retina chip. The artificial retina chip consists of several LSI chips that are vertically stacked and electrically connected using a through-Si via (TSV). We fabricated anartificial retina chip including photodetectors and stimulus current generators. An implantable stimulus electrode array was also fabricated for electrical stimulation of the retina. To evaluate the optimal retinal stimulus current, the electrically evoked potential (EEP) was recorded in animal experiments. The recorded waveform shows similar behavior to the visually evoked potential (VEP) waveform, indicating apossibility that electrical stimulation of the retina can restore visual sensation for blind patients. A contactless power delivery system to provide a supply voltage to an artificial retina chip implanted into an eyeball was also discussed, and it was confirmed that sufficient power for the retina chip can be provided by inductivecoupling using coils.