Implantable Biomedical Microsystems: A New Graduate Course in Biomedical Circuits and Systems

After more than two decades of research on the design and development of implantable biomedical microsystems, it is time now to organize research achievements in this area in a consolidated and pedagogical form. This paper introduces a new graduate course in advanced biomedical circuits and systems. Designed for graduate students with electrical and biomedical engineering backgrounds, this course provides a general overview of the multidisciplinary field of implantable biomedical microsystems. In addition to some introductory material on physiology and biology where needed, this course comprises extensive contents and in-depth discussions on both system- and circuit-level aspects of the design of implantable microsystems. Moreover, this course also deals with issues surrounding design for implantability and testability. Wireless interfacing, signal processing, microelectrode array fabrication, and circuit design for implantable neural recording microsystems are studied extensively. Various design aspects of neural stimulation microsystems, cochlear implants, and visual prostheses are also reviewed briefly.