Biocompatible Ribbon Cable With Folded Wings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current retinal prostheses face challenges in designing high-density multi-electrode arrays due to size, power, and heat dissipation constraints within the eyeball, particularly in fitting a large number of electrodes through a limited incision without compromising ocular integrity, and existing manufacturing methods struggle to produce wire traces at the required 3-micron pitch on biocompatible polymers.
Innovation Solution
A biocompatible ribbon cable with laterally foldable 'wings' that can be narrowed to fit through a small incision, featuring an integrally formed electrode array and connected to an IC chip, power coils, and other components, manufactured using micro-fabrication techniques like CVD and chemical etching, allowing for a stacked configuration that maintains adequate pitch and supports a high number of independent signals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a flat cable with 1024 wires is used to carry high-density electrodes, then the number of stimulating electrodes is improved, but the cable width becomes too large to fit through a 3-mm incision
Solution Approach 1:
The cable is folded into a compact three-dimensional configuration where conductors are arranged in multiple layers stacked vertically. This transforms a two-dimensional flat cable into a three-dimensional structure that fits through the narrow 3-mm incision while maintaining the 1024 conductor capacity through vertical stacking.
Solution Approach 2:
The cable design nests conductors within conductors by folding wings over a central portion, creating a compact stacked configuration. The bypass portions are folded over the central portion to form a nested structure that reduces the overall cable width to fit through the limited incision opening.
2Ease of manufacture
If wire traces are made wider to improve manufacturability, then manufacturing reliability is improved, but the pitch between traces increases reducing the number of electrodes that can fit
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional planar arrangement of conductors to a three-dimensional stacked configuration. This allows wider, more manufacturable traces in each layer while accommodating more total conductors through vertical stacking, effectively decoupling trace width requirements from overall conductor density.
Solution Approach 2:
The cable is divided into multiple conductor layers (central portion and bypass portions) that can be independently manufactured with standard trace widths. Each layer contains a subset of conductors that can be fabricated using conventional manufacturing processes, with the full 1024-conductor array achieved through stacking multiple segmented layers.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The ribbon cable design enables a 1024-channel retinal implant to fit through a 3-mm incision while maintaining signal density, allowing for effective stimulation of retinal ganglion cells and overcoming manufacturing limitations, thus enhancing the capability of retinal prostheses for vision restoration.
Implementation Method 1
a first ribbon cable portion, a second ribbon cable portion, a central ribbon cable portion supporting a first subset of electrical conductors extending between the first and second ribbon cable portions
Implementation Method 2
A biocompatible ribbon cable with laterally foldable 'wings' that can be narrowed to fit through a small incision
Implementation Method 3
manufactured using micro-fabrication techniques like CVD and chemical etching
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A biocompatible, micro-fabricated ribbon cable is described in which at least one set of conductors diverges laterally into a bypass wing that forms an aperture through the ribbon cable. The bypass wing is folded in a line through the aperture and over a central portion of the ribbon cable, resulting in a ribbon cable with a narrow, stacked region. The narrow region can fit through small incisions in membranes, such as through an incision in a sclera of an eyeball. The ribbon cable can have an integrally-formed electrode array for attaching to a retina of an eyeball and other electronics for sending signals to the electrode array.