Design and Fabrication of Fully Implantable MEMS Cochlea

Abstract

The micro-electro-mechanical array for application as fully implantable cochlea is presented in this paper. The complete system including a short overview of energy harvesting and the system configuration is proposed. This study mainly covers mechanical properties of cochlea microfabricated silicon structure. Electro-mechanical simulations are proceeded to optimize the material used for resonators, the size of array membranes and to estimate the resistive change due to the input sound signal. The sound is detected by thin SiXNY diaphragm due to resonant frequency and the displacement of the membrane caused by acoustic pressure. The displacement is detected employing piezoresistive electrodes (NiCr). Design and fabrication process based on MEMS technology are described and discussed. The response measurement of the cochlea structure is performed.

The micro-electro-mechanical array for application as fully implantable cochlea is presented in this paper. The complete system including a short overview of energy harvesting and the system configuration is proposed. This study mainly covers mechanical properties of cochlea microfabricated silicon structure. Electro-mechanical simulations are proceeded to optimize the material used for resonators, the size of array membranes and to estimate the resistive change due to the input sound signal. The sound is detected by thin SiXNY diaphragm due to resonant frequency and the displacement of the membrane caused by acoustic pressure. The displacement is detected employing piezoresistive electrodes (NiCr). Design and fabrication process based on MEMS technology are described and discussed. The response measurement of the cochlea structure is performed.