Retinal Implant Device

The NRL patents cover manufacturing methods of components as well as an implant test device and the final permanent retinal implant. The test device includes a thin wafer of glass using nanochannel glass electrode arrays with each channel filled with an electrical conducting microwire. One surface of the glass is ground to fit the inside curvature of the retina. The nanochannel glass array is hybridized to a silicon multiplexer with the image being serially input into the multiplexer via a very narrow, flexible micro-cable from an external camera. This test device creates a neural-electronic interface between a high-resolution array of 3,200 independent electrodes and the retinal surface. The permanent retinal implant device would not have the micro-cable, but instead, the image would be generated by light entering the lens of the eye. Through a photon-to-electron conversion using a silicon photodiode, the device would collect the charge in storage capacitors, stimulate the neural tissue with bi-phasic pulses and reset the storage capacitors to repeat the process. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) seeks to commercialize through patent licensing a miniaturized, high-resolution human retinal stimulator device to provide visual images to the brain. This retinal implant device may restore vision to patients with retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Benefits: May restore vision to patients with retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, affecting 30 million people in the developing world The high resolution image with 3,200 independent electrodes interfacing with neural tissue is unprecedented