Student project: Design of an energy efficient stimulation circuit for peripheral nerve

This project aims to architect and design an energy efficient stimulator circuit for peripheral nerve, and energy saving techniques such as adiabatic stimulation and/or charge recycling will be explored. An existing model is available within imec and can serve as a starting point for this project.

What you will do

The peripheral nervous system (PNS) consists of the nerves outside of the central nervous system (CNS) and connects the CNS to the organs, limbs, and skin. It is a two directional pathway between CNS and internal organs and hence can have powerful impact on the functionality of both. Currently, interest in peripheral nerve stimulation is growing as an alternative or a complement to pharmacological treatment, i.e., treatment with medication, for applications such as epilepsy, pain, depression, and inflammatory bowel disease.

One of the major challenges is reducing the power consumption and self-heating during the peripheral nerve stimulation. To minimize the power consumption, an adaptive power supply is beneficial. With this adaptive supply, the stimulator can provide only the minimum voltage that is needed for the load to keep the desired stimulation current (referred as “adiabatic” stimulation). This “adiabatic” feature saves power consumption and reduces self-heating during the stimulation. Furthermore, circuit techniques that can recycle some of the stimulated charges are also envisioned to further save power.

This project aims to develop an energy efficient stimulator circuit using the concepts mentioned above.

• Literature survey of the state-of-the-art for PNS stimulation circuits, and the energy saving techniques for the stimulator circuits.
• Research and development of an energy efficient adiabatic stimulator architecture.
• Modelling of the system in Cadence with ideal components.
• Design and simulation of the required circuits (e.g. comparator, low voltage to high voltage level-shifter, bootstrapped switch, etc) for the architecture, including schematic and layout using Cadence EDA tools.
• Tape-out and measurement of the chip, if time permits.
• Optionally, depending on results write a paper.

What we do for you

You will be working on cutting-edge research on a topic that is relevant to both academic and industrial research groups. To help you in this journey, we offer a flexible environment where you can be the leader of your own research while at the same time have support of experts to complete your tasks. As part of the team in IMEC-Netherlands you will have opportunities to learn from the some of the best minds.

IMEC has in-house experts in analog and mixed-signal design who can help you in shaping this multi-disciplinary research project.

Who you are

• You are a Msc student in Electronics Engineering.
• You are available for a period of at least 9 months.
• You have knowledge of analog/mixed-signal circuits through course and/or project work.
• Knowledge of power management circuit is a big plus.
• You are excited about low-power analog circuit design.
• You are familiar with Cadence design environment or similar CAD tools.
• You are familiar with MATLAB or Python.
• You are entitled to do an internship in the Netherlands.
• You are self-starter and able to work independently.
• Good written and verbal English skills.

Interested

Does this project sound like an interesting next step in your career at imec? Don’t hesitate to submit your application by clicking on ‘APPLY NOW’.
Got some questions about the recruitment process? Martijn Kohl of the Talent Acquisition Team will be happy to assist you.