A neural rehabilitation chip with neural recording, peak detection, spike rate counter, and biphasic neural stimulator

We demonstrate an integrated circuit to be used as a neural prosthetic. The circuit is designed to record and amplify neural signals. The amplified neural signals are fed through to a sigma-delta analog to digital converter. The output of the sigma-delta is used to control the frequency of a voltage controlled oscillator circuit. The resulting signal is the output of the circuit to be transmitted wirelessly in the next version of the chip. In addition, the amplified neural signal is introduced to a peak detection circuit. The interval between detected peaks is determined and used to trigger a biphasic neural stimulation circuit. The chip is intended as a rehabilitation device for patients suffering from traumatic brain injury or stroke. The chip detect the signals near the damaged area of the brain and reroute the signals to healthy neurons. Our goal is to enable rehabilitation through rerouting and reprogramming of the brain to take advantage of neural plasticity. The chip was implemented in a standard 0.5 μm CMOS process.