Micro-sized photo-detecting stimulator array for retinal prosthesis by distributed sensor network approach

In this paper, we propose a flexible retinal prosthetic device using a distributed sensor network. The novel point of the proposed device is that the flexible stimulator consists of micro-sized CMOS devices linked in a network. In the micro-sized CMOS device single-wire serial interface, a photosensor with a pixel-level analog-to-digital converter (ADC), an image processing circuit, and a current driver circuit are integrated. The device is fabricated using 0.6 μm CMOS technology with a size of 500 μm × 500 μm. We present the results of a successful test of a prototype device.