ICSense Designs ASICs for Next-Generation Medical Implants

ICsense is a leading supplier of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that specializes in developing and supplying microchips for the next generation of electric vehicles, medical implants, and wearables. However, developing chips for medical implants comes with a demanding set of challenges.

Since these chips are designed to stay in human bodies for several decades, they must operate at ultra-low power. In the case of cochlear implants, the key challenge for ICsense was to deliver an accurate charge to the tissue and measure identical charges from the tissue. The response of the nerves and brain is measured using high-voltage, high-accuracy, and low-power instrumentation amplifiers.

ASICs designed for medical implants must follow the strict framework of the ISO 13485 certification. This compels ICsense to use a highly reliable state-of-the-art design environment, emphasizing the traceability of requirements from the very beginning of the project all the way up to mass production.

For the last 20 years, Cadence tools have been central to ICsense's development process. Virtuoso Studio is used for schematic entry and layout, Spectre Simulation Platform is used for high-reliability analog simulations, Xcelium Logic Simulator is used for digital and mixed-signal simulations, and Voltus IC Power Integrity Solution is used for IR drop analysis and power integrity simulations.

It's not just the tools, though. Through Cadence, ICsense implements a unified testbench approach that combines SystemVerilog and UVM. This enables them to perform full mixed-signal simulations with very high accuracy in a short simulation time. By validating its designs pre-silicon, ICsense can meet stringent quality and safety requirements while accelerating time to market.

Learn more about how ICsense is designing ASICs for next-generation medical implants.

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