Numerical analysis of temperature elevation in the head due to power dissipation in a cortical implant

This article presents the numerical analysis of temperature increase in the human head resulting from the power dissipation in a cortical implant. A 3-D head phantom with 22 tissue types and 0.2 mm x 0.2 mm x 2 mm resolution has been used in the simulations. The dependencies of the temperature increase on the power dissipation level, chip size, and location of the implant are investigated. Moreover, distributing power dissipation by using multiple integrated circuits in the implant is discussed. Maximum allowable total power dissipation in a cortical implant of size 2 x 2 mm2 is found to be 4.8 mW, whereas, it is 8.4 mW for an implant with two chips of same size placed 10 mm apart.