Electrical stimulation of the nervous system is commonly based on biphasic stimulation waveforms, which limits its relevance for some applications, such as selective stimulation. We propose in this paper a stimulator capable of delivering arbitrary waveforms to electrodes, and suitable for non-conventional stimulation strategies. Such a system enables in vivo stimulation protocols with optimized efficacy or energy efficiency. The designed system comprises a High Voltage CMOS ASIC generating a configurable stimulating current, driven by a digital circuitry implemented on a FPGA. After fabrication, the ASIC and system were characterized and tested; they successfully generated programmable waveforms with a frequential content up to 1.2 MHz and a voltage compliance between [−17.9; +18.3] V. The system is not optimum when compared to single application stimulators, but no embedded stimulator in the literature offers an equivalent bandwidth which allows the wide range of stimulation paradigms, including high-frequency blocking stimulation. We consider that this stimulator will help test unconventional stimulation waveforms and can be used to generate proof-of-concept data before designing implantable and application-dedicated implantable stimulators.

中文翻译：

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用于任意波形生成的基于 IC 的神经刺激环境

神经系统的电刺激通常基于双相刺激波形，这限制了其与某些应用（例如选择性刺激）的相关性。我们在本文中提出了一种能够向电极传送任意波形并适用于非常规刺激策略的刺激器。这样的系统使体内刺激方案具有优化的功效或能量效率。设计的系统包括一个高压 CMOS ASIC，它产生一个可配置的激励电流，由在 FPGA 上实现的数字电路驱动。制造完成后，对 ASIC 和系统进行了表征和测试；他们成功地生成了频率高达 1.2 MHz 且电压顺应性在 [−17.9; +18.3] V。与单一应用刺激器相比，该系统不是最佳的，但文献中没有嵌入式刺激器提供等效带宽，允许广泛的刺激范式，包括高频阻塞刺激。我们认为该刺激器将有助于测试非常规刺激波形，并可用于在设计植入式和应用专用植入式刺激器之前生成概念验证数据。