Circuits for a Cubic-Millimeter Energy-Autonomous Wireless Intraocular Pressure Monitor

Circuit blocks for a 1.5 mm³ microsystem enable continuous monitoring of intraocular pressure. Due to power and form-factor limitations, circuit blocks are designed at nanowatt power levels not completely explored before. The system includes a 75% efficient 90 nW DC-DC converter which is the most efficient reported sub- μW converter in literature. It also includes a novel 4.7 nJ/bit FSK radio that achieves 10 cm of transmission range at 10 ^-6 BER which is also the lowest number reported for short-range through-tissue wireless links for biomedical implants. A MEMS capacitive sensor and ΣΔ capacitance-to-digital converter measure IOP with 0.5 mmHg accuracy. A microcontroller processes and saves IOP data and stores it in a 2.4 fW/bitcell SRAM. The microsystem harvests a maximum power of 80 nW in sunlight with a light irradiance of 100 mW/cm² AM 1.5 from an integrated 0.07 mm² solar cell to recharge a 1 mm² 1 μAh thin-film battery and power the load circuits. The design achieves zero-net-energy operation with 1.5 hours of sunlight or 10 hours of bright indoor lighting daily.