A leading nano-electronics research centre is set to unveil new plans for implantable medical devices and drug delivery systems which could help combat a range of conditions and diseases, Semiconductor International reports.

The Interuniversity Micro Electronics Center (IMEC) has been working alongside several US universities to develop technologies which could help people with Parkinson's disease, hearing loss, paralysis, strokes, cancer and even war wounds.

The research - which will be presented at the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) on 14th-17th December - makes use of various synergies between conventional and implantable electronics.

In particular, the team managed to develop a special type of chip-in-wire technology, which uses 3D interconnects to shrink the chip and allow it to be incorporated into cochlear implants and neural probes.

The researchers from IMEC managed to thin the chips down to 10-15 nanometres, planarise them with a thick dielectric material and encapsulate the die with a multi-layer stack of parylene-C, platinum and silicone.

With the help of scientists at the University of Frieburg, they developed a wafer-level technique which creates the required electrode array for stimulating nerve endings in cochlear implants.

The development is significant as implantable electronics and drug delivery devices need to be adaptable as they face a corrosive environment in the shape of fluids and salts in the human body.

One of the resulting tests carried out by researchers at Brown University relates to 'thought to action' implanted cortical neurosensors, which can pinpoint the electrical activity of individual neural cells.

Such a system could provide disabled or paralysed individuals with the possibility of increased movement by allowing them to send commands to real or prosthetic limbs through specific electronic links.

Meanwhile, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are set to present two devices of their own at the IEDM.

The first is an implantable device for rapid delivery to a soldier wounded in battle, while the second is a micro-electro-mechanical systems-based implant which releases drugs to tackle cancer when an electro-thermal shock is applied.

Similar studies at the University of California are currently taking place, whereby coated glass microspheres with nanowires which adhere to intestinal cells are being used to release drugs constantly at a tumour site.

Source:

IEDM Showcases Medical Device Research (04/12/08)
http://www.semiconductor.net/article/CA6619836.html?desc=topstory