Low-Cost, Implantable Electronics on Horizon

摘要

New technology under development is paving the way for low-cost electronic devices that work in direct contact with living tissue inside the body. The first planned use of the technology is a sensor that will detect the very early stages of organ transplant rejection. Paul Berger, professor of electrical and computer engineering and physics at Ohio State University, Columbus, explains that one barrier to the development of implantable sensors is that most existing electronics are based on silicon, and electrolytes in the body interfere with the electrical signals in silicon circuits. Other, more exotic semiconductors might work in the body, but they are more expensive and harder to manufacture.