Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers with integrated electronics for neuromodulation applications

Abstract

Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUT) are being made in practically any size (microns to mms), shape (flat or curved), and type (single element, 1-D array, 2-D array, rings, and annular arrays), and at frequencies from 10s of kHz to almost 100 MHz. Along with the transducers themselves, front-end electronics are being integrated as well to provide better performance and enable the use of arrays with a very large number of elements. One important aspect of these integrated arrays is that they can be used for imaging (anatomic and photo-acoustic functional), therapy (high intensity focused ultrasound), and more recently neuro-modulation. This talk will review CMUTs and the methods of integration, then show examples of ultrasound stimulation of lipid bilayers and Salamander retina. We show that the retina responds to ultrasound stimulation as well as it responds to light stimulation and that when the retina’s optical response is suppressed chemically it still responds to ultrasonic stimulus. We postulate the possibility of using CMUT 2D arrays as contact lens prosthetic devices capable of restoring some vision in some type of blindness.