Design of new implantable stimulator chip (SoC) for non-invasive / minimally invasive biomedical application

Facial palsy is a form of neurological problem that results in loss of the ability to blink. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation is found to be a better solution to restore blinking. It is the elicitation of muscle contraction using electrical impulses. We propose a stimulator chip that can stimulate a blink in the palsied eye in coordination with the non-palsied eye. Here the EMG signal is first detected for blink. This blink detector block is implemented using AND logic comparator. The output of this stage drives the output stage to deliver the required stimulating current. The output stage is implemented using charge pump to deliver the stimulating current in contrast to the controller used in the previous works. This paper is implemented in 180nm technology using Cadence Virtuoso.