Diamond Devices for High Acuity Prosthetic Vision

Abstract

Retinal implants restore a sense of vision, for a growing number of users worldwide. Nevertheless, visual acuities provided by the current generation of devices are low. The quantity of information transferable to the retina using existing implant technologies is limited, far below receptor cells' capabilities. Many agree that increasing the information density deliverable by a retinal prosthesis requires devices with stimulation electrodes that are both dense and numerous. This work describes a new generation of retinal prostheses capable of upscaling the information density conveyable to the retina. Centered on engineered diamond materials, the implant is very well tolerated and long‐term stable in the eye's unique physiological environment and capable of delivering highly versatile stimulation waveforms – both key attributes in providing useful vision. Delivery of high‐density information, close to the retina with the flexibility to alter stimulation parameters in situ provides the best chance for success in providing high acuity prosthetic vision.

Laser Driven Miniature Diamond Implant for Wireless Retinal Prostheses

“…The system produces stimulation pulses in line with earlier reports [22] . The implant is packaged using diamond packaging technology for safe and effective neuromodulation, aspects of which has been reported in our earlier works [22] .…”

“…The interface circuit demodulated the optically encoded data and produced signals with rise/fall times of 112/160 nm for the stimulator ASIC operation. The system produces stimulation pulses in line with earlier reports [22] . The implant is packaged using diamond packaging technology for safe and effective neuromodulation, aspects of which has been reported in our earlier works [22] .…”

“…[22] Further information on the silicone housing as well as the surgical placement has been provided in our earlier work. [22,39] Beyond some minor changes to the form factor, the key difference between these earlier reports and this work is that the silicone housing no longer contains the electrical wires. These wires represented a significant surgical challenge because they needed to breach the eyewall, and in this work we successfully eliminated the need for them.…”

Control of Neuronal Survival and Development Using Conductive Diamond

“…32 The safety of N-UNCD for chronic applications has been previously demonstrated by implanting N-UNCD adjacent to the retina tissue. 36 As such, a potential application of our findings could involve the use of N-UNCD electrodes in retinal implants, alongside NIR stimulation, to slow down or rescue the degeneration of neurons in retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration.…”

Design and validation of a foldable and photovoltaic wide-field epiretinal prosthesis

“…From the engineering point of view this implies to increase the density of the stimulating electrodes and enlarge the size of the prosthesis. POLYRETINA is a novel foldable and photovoltaic wide-field epiretinal prosthesis with a remarkable increase in its size (46.3 degrees) and in the number of stimulating pixels (2215) compared to other epiretinal prostheses 4 , 34 .…”