Portable Arbitrary Pulse Generator for Driving μCoils for Micromagnetic Neurostimulation

Abstract

AbstractMicromagnetic stimulation (μMS) is a promising branch of neurostimulation technologies. Microcoil (μcoil) based magnetic stimulation uses micrometer sized coils that generate a time-varying magnetic field which as per Faraday’s Laws of Electromagnetic Induction induces an electric field on a conductive surface. This method of stimulation has the advantage of not requiring electrical contact with tissue, however these μcoils are not easy to operate. Large currents are required to generate the required magnetic field. These currents are too large for standard test equipment to provide, and additional power amplifiers are needed. To aid in the development and application of micromagnetic stimulation devices, we have created a compact single unit test setup for driving these devices called the μCoil Driver. This unit is designed to drive small inductive loads up to ±8 V at 5 A and 10 kHz.