Second Sight Medical Products, Inc.

Other

Doheny Eye Institute

Cortigent, Inc.

Dao Min Zhou

Robert Jay Greenberg

James Singleton Little

Rongqing Dai

Neil Hamilton Talbot

Arup Roy

Sumit Yadav

Mark Salman Humayun

Jordan M Neysmith

Jerry Ok

Brian V Mech

Amy Hines

Kelly Hobart McClure

Chunhong Zhou

Richard Agustin Castro

James David Weiland

John J Reinhold

Pishoy Maksy

Kea-Tiong Tang

Amy Chu Peishuan Hines

Matthew J McMahon

Alan Matthew Horsager

Qingfang Yao

Samip Shah

John Charles Gord

Ione Fine

Alfred E Mann

Jessy D Dorn

Rajat N Agrawal

Dustin Tobey

Proyag Datta

Mark S Humayun

Alan Horsager

Jordan Matthew Nevsmith

Gailland R Nolan

Jone Fine

James David Welland

Jordan Matthew Neysmith

Kelly Mcclure

Matthew Mcmahon

An electrode surface coating and method for manufacturing the electrode surface coating comprising a conductive substrate; a surface coating of platinum having a rough configuration and an increase in the surface area of 5 times to 500 times of the corresponding surface area resulting from the basic geometric shape of the electrode. A method for electroplating an electrode surface with platinum coating having a rough surface, comprising electroplating the surface of a conductive substrate at a rate such that the metal particles form on the conductive substrate faster than necessary to form shiny platinum and slower than necessary to form platinum black.

Platinum electrode surface coating and method for manufacturing the same

The present invention is a flexible circuit electrode array with a polymer base layer, metal traces deposited on the polymer base layer, including electrodes suitable to stimulate neural tissue, a polymer top layer deposited on the polymer base layer and the metal traces, and a soft polymer filling a void through both the polymer base layer and polymer top layer, the soft polymer forming drum stress relief around an attachment point.

Flexible circuit electrode array with a drum stress relief

The invention is directed to a method of bonding a hermetically sealed electronics package to an electrode or a flexible circuit and the resulting electronics package that is suitable for implantation in living tissue, for a retinal or cortical electrode array to enable restoration of sight to certain non-sighted individuals. The hermetically sealed electronics package is directly bonded to the flex circuit or electrode by electroplating a biocompatible material, such as platinum or gold, effectively forming a plated rivet-shaped connection, which bonds the flex circuit to the electronics package. The resulting electronic device is biocompatible and is suitable for long-term implantation in living tissue.

Biocompatible bonding method and electronics package suitable for implantation

The present invention provides an implantable electrode with increased stability wherein the surface is of the electrode comprises mesh grids which are filled with sticks which are filed with a conducting or insulating material. The present invention further provides a method of manufacturing an electrode with increased stability, comprising: depositing a metal layer on an base layer; applying photoresist layer on the metal layer; patterning the photoresist layer providing openings; electroplating the openings with metal; removing the photoresist layer leaving spaces; and filling the spaces with polymer.

Electrode with increased stability and method of manufacturing the same

The present invention is a method for measuring stable and reproducible electrode-tissue impedance, comprising preconditioning an electrode-tissue interface. Further aspect of the invention is a stimulation system for a visual prosthesis generating a stimulation signal to precondition the electrode-tissue interface, comprising a computer; software, loaded in the computer, adapted to perform a stimulating method for a visual prosthesis having a plurality of electrodes; a video processing unit; and an implanted neuron-stimulator.

Method for measuring stable and reproducible electrode-tissue impedance

An apparatus for controlling the stimulation of neural tissue which includes a neural stimulator, an input device for providing input to the neural stimulator for neural stimulation, at least one electrode electrically connected to and driven by the neural stimulator and suitable to stimulate neural tissue, a device capable of determining a charge per phase by calculating a discrete integral of the wave form of the input for the at least one electrode, a calculating device for comparing the charge per phase to a predetermined maximum and determining a reduced stimulation for the at least one electrode by the amount necessary not to exceed the predetermined maximum for the at least one electrode, and a current pulse generator for stimulating the neural tissue according to the reduced stimulation level.

Method and apparatus to provide safety checks for neural stimulation

In electrically stimulating neural tissue it is important to prevent over stimulation and unbalanced stimulation which would cause damage to the neural tissue, the electrode, or both. It is critical that neural tissue in not subjected to any direct current or alternating current above a safe threshold. Further, it is important to identify defective electrodes as continued use may result in neural and further electrode damage. The present invention presents system and stimulator control mechanisms to prevent damage to neural tissue.

The present invention consists of an implantable device with a hermetic electronics package that houses electronics. The hermetic package is attached to a flexible circuit electrode array having its electrodes arranged in a trapezoidal electrode array field that is suitable to stimulate the visual cortex. The hermetic electronics package is provided with a fixation structure that secures, protects and dissipates heat from the electronics package. The entire implantable device can be entirely implanted within the head.

Cortical visual prosthesis

A flexible circuit electrode array with more than one layer of metal traces comprising: a polymer base layer; more than one layer of metal traces, separated by polymer layers, deposited on said polymer base layer, including electrodes suitable to stimulate neural tissue; and a polymer top layer deposited on said polymer base layer and said metal traces. Polymer materials are useful as electrode array bodies for neural stimulation. They are particularly useful for retinal stimulation to create artificial vision, cochlear stimulation to create artificial hearing, or cortical stimulation many purposes. The pressure applied against the retina, or other neural tissue, by an electrode array is critical. Too little pressure causes increased electrical resistance, along with electric field dispersion. Too much pressure may block blood flow.

Method of making a flexible circuit electrode array

The invention is a method of identifying a preferred location for an electrode array to the neural characteristics of an individual subject. The response to electrical neural stimulation varies from subject to subject and array location to array location. Measure of impedance may be used to predict the electrode height from the neural tissue and, thereby, predict the preferred location. Alternatively, electrode height may be measured directly to predict the preferred location.

Locating a neural prosthesis using impedance and electrode height

Device is a hermetically sealed electronics package bonded to an electrode or flexible circuit that is suitable for implantation such as for a retinal or cortical electrode array. The hermetically sealed electronics package is bonded to the electrode or flexible circuit by electroplating a biocompatible material, such as platinum or gold, forming a plated connection, bonding the flexible circuit to the electronics package. The resulting electronic device is biocompatible and is suitable for long-term implantation. The device comprises a substrate containing a contact, a flexible assembly containing a pad, and electroplated bonding between said contact and said pad that bonds said substrate and said flexible assembly together.

Biocompatible electroplated interconnection electronics package suitable for implantation

The invention is directed to a method of bonding a hermetically sealed electronics package to an electrode or a flexible circuit and the resulting electronics package, that is suitable for implantation in living tissue, such as for a retinal or cortical electrode array to enable restoration of sight to certain non-sighted individuals. The hermetically sealed electronics package is directly bonded to the flex circuit or electrode by electroplating a biocompatible material, such as platinum or gold, effectively forming a plated rivet-shaped connection, which bonds the flex circuit to the electronics package. The resulting electronic device is biocompatible and is suitable for long-term implantation in living tissue.

A critical element of a retinal prosthesis is the stimulating electrode array, which is placed in close proximity to the retina. It is via this interface that a retinal prosthesis electrically stimulates nerve cells to produce the perception of light. The impedance load seen by the current driver consists of the tissue resistance and the complex electrode impedance. The results show that the tissue resistance of the retina is significantly greater than that of the vitreous humor in the eye. Circuit models of the electrode-retina interface are used to parameterize the different contributors to the overall impedance.

Method of improving electrode tissue interface

Growing community of inventors

Saugus, CA, United States of America

Dao Min Zhou