The eye doesn’t see. The brain does.

The image is processed, then sent to a retinal implant attached to the retina.

The implant—an array of electrodes—directly stimulates the ganglion cells in the retina.

The electrical stimulation patterns provide maximum visual acuity.

iBIONICS Diamond Eye™ Core Features

High acuity

Superior diamond-based biomaterials

W

Highly flexible stimulator chip

f

Wireless technology

The iBIONICS Diamond Eye:
Cutting-edge Technology, Pioneering Materials

  1. The iBIONICS Diamond Eye is implanted on the inside surface of the retina.
  2. The box encapsulating the implant and the electrodes are crafted with stable, inert polycrystalline doped diamond .
  3. The diamond stimulates the retina to elicit neural response.
  4. The high-density microchip uses minimal power to electrically stimulate the retina with diamond electrodes.

Nitrogen-doped diamond (N-UNCD) can be modified to endow the material with a combination of properties required for a retinal implant:

  • Biocompatibility
  • Long-term stability
  • A high charge injection capacity enabling effective stimulation at lower applied voltages and currents

“In developing the Diamond Eye, we are using a technology that takes advantage of the properties of diamond to stimulate the neural tissue and to safely encapsulate the electronics. We pioneered the concept of diamond as a superior material for bionics.”

Professor Steven Prawer

Cofounder and CTO, iBIONICS

The Diamond Microchip

Silicon Microchip

The iBIONICS Diamond Eye encompasses a highly programmable, high-density silicon microchip that uses minimal power.

256 Electrodes (Scalable to 1024 Electrodes)

The implantable microchip is a slab of insulating diamond containing 256 electrodes (scalable to 1024 electrodes) made of conducting diamond .

Stimulator Pads

A specially designed stimulator chip with 256 independently addressable stimulator pads is bump bonded to the diamond electrode array.

Diamond Package

The bonded ASIC and electrode array is hermetically sealed in a diamond package using a special brazing technology and laser welding. The completed package is placed in a silicon carrier , inserted into the eye for epiretinal placement. The device is held in place by specially designed retinal tacks .

Video Credit: David Garrett

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