Maurits Ortmanns: Advancements in ASIC Design for Neurotech Implants

In this episode, we welcome Prof. Dr.-Ing. Maurits Ortmanns, a leading expert in ASIC design and professor at the University of Ulm, Germany. With a distinguished career in microelectronics, Dr. Ortmanns has contributed extensively to the development of integrated circuits for biomedical applications. He shares insights into the critical role of ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) design in advancing neurotech implants, focusing on low-power, high-speed circuits that are essential for optimizing the performance and reliability of these devices. Dr. Ortmanns also discusses the challenges and future of circuit integration in neurotechnology.

Top 3 Takeaways:

• "Each ASIC is very low in cost because the development cost is spread across millions of units. The actual production cost is minimal; the primary expense lies in the development time until the first chips are produced and ready for manufacturing."
• "For an inexperienced engineer, it typically takes about six months to a year to design the blueprint for the chip. Then, depending on the manufacturer, it takes an additional four to six months for the actual fabrication of the ASIC. Finally, you would need another one to two months for testing, so the total turnaround time for a small chip is approximately one and a half years."
• "Let's take the example of a neuromodulator. You need recordings or data from neurons and stimulation data going to the neurons, so you essentially have these two components. Then, you encounter challenges like stimulation artifacts. One person might focus on eliminating the stimulation artifact in the recording channel. That requires additional algorithms or hardware, and the data needs to be digitized, which is another task. You may also have someone working on a compression algorithm and building digital circuitry to compress the raw input data. Then, there’s the data interface, power management, and wireless energy delivery. Each person works on their specific innovation, and if everything is well-planned and lucky, all these pieces can come together to create a complete system. However, sometimes you simply don’t have a breakthrough idea for power management or communication."

0:45 Do you want to introduce yourself better than I just did?

3:15 What is integrated circuit design?

7:30 What are ASIC's? How are they used in neurotech?

10:15 How does the million dollar fab cost get split into each chip?

11:30 What are typical functions of ASICs?

14:30 Why does the development time take so long?

18:15 So most of the libraries you use are your own and you don't use external ones?

19:45 To what extent is this modular?

22:15 What is the timeline of each of the sections of development?

27:45 How does it work managing IP from your company and your University?

30:45 Are there any Open Source initiatives in Europe for ASICs?

33:00 How many people in the world do this kind of work?

35:45 What is a good pathway for those looking to get into this kind of work?

38:45 How early should companies start talking about designs?

40:15 If you 10x the money could you make it go faster?

41:30 If people want to reach out how do they do so?

42:15 Anything else that you wanted to mention?