Research Projects - Biomedical

As part of this project, the suitability of FMCW radars in the K-band for detecting breast cancer is being investigated. For this purpose, a complex transceiver chip with an integrated analog baseband, A/D converter and SPI interface was developed at the Institute of CMOS Design. Due to the numerous pins, such a chip cannot be measured directly on-wafer. For this reason, the high-frequency mixed-signal board shown below was developed, on which the chip was contacted using bonding wires. The chip can then be conveniently controlled via a graphical user interface using a laptop.

Further work at the institute as part of the project includes system calculations and the design of other components required for the radar system. One example of this is the design of the PLL circuit board (PLL = Phase Locked Loop) shown above.

This is needed to generate the frequency ramps required for an FMCW radar system. To do this, a voltage-controlled oscillator is detuned using a control loop to produce the desired frequency ramp.

Anyone interested in the design of mixed-signal boards as part of a thesis or student assistant position is welcome to contact the responsible member of staff (Martin Maier).

There is a growing interest in the development of invasive and non-invasive methods for measuring biomaterials using millimeter-wave sensors. Of particular interest are invasive sensors, such as instantaneous blood glucose and oxygen sensors, dehydration detection, and brain activity monitoring, where the main challenge is the miniaturization of sensor devices. Another challenge for biomedical sensors is minimizing the power consumption of the entire device and integrating the power management system. An implantable system has to operate within the patient’s body without the need to be removed for recharging. To be able to transfer information from devices outside of the body a wireless communication interface needs to be implemented. To reduce the transmit antenna, mm-wave realization is advantageous.

The glucose sensor topic is based on the NEXGEN (Next Generation of Body Monitoring) project and focuses on the research and development of ultra-low-power 22nm CMOS devices. 

The project involves the development and design of a transceiver device, which includes an oscillator with a tissue permittivity sensor, phase shifters, frequency mixers, and analog and digital signal converters. The transmitting part of the module includes an integrated 120 GHz slot antenna and a corresponding microwave path with a frequency multiplier/divider, a frequency modulator, and a power amplifier. The transceiver will be powered and controlled via a power management circuit that contains a bandgap reference circuit, ultra-low power regulator and compensation circuits, and a nano controller: a flexible architectural processor for ultra-low power always-on system state controllers.

If you are interested in the analog, mm-wave/rf, or digital circuit design then please contact the responsible employee (Adilet Dossanov).

UNLOOC aims to develop groundbreaking Organ-on-Chips (OOC) technologies to mitigate the challenges posed by use of animals in drug development and testing. Direct use of human cells is a real game changer, bridging the gender gap and allowing personalized medicine.

Challenge
Before drugs can proceed to clinical trials on human subjects, animal models have traditionally been used to validate the effectiveness, toxicity and pharmacokinetics of the drug. However, use of animal models comes with many potential challenges, such as lower predictability to humans, high failure rates in clinical trials, excessive costs in drug development and risk of death caused by unwanted side effects in approved drugs.

Project
The project aims to demonstrate through its five novel use cases how the groundbreaking methods using Organ-on-a-Chip (OOC) technology enable the development of more effective treatments, leaving animal subjects out of the equation. The OOC technology to be developed in the UNLOOC project will not only enable controlled drug testing, but also the modelling of disease pathophysiology.

If you are interested in circuit design then please contact the responsible employee (Christian Ziegler).