An implantable ISM band antenna for biomedical application

Abstract

This article presents a compact implantable antenna for biomedical use in the ISM band (2.4–2.48 GHz). The antenna is designed with Roger RT/duroid 6010.2LM high permittivity substrate of thickness 0.25 mm, and feed with a 50 Ω co-axial feed. A hybrid-loop resonator slot structure and C & I-shaped slots in the radiating patch has enabled the antenna to work in the ISM band. Via less ground makes this design simple, easier to fabricate, and a suitable candidate for implantable application. The proposed antenna occupies a small volume of 0.0984 λ 0 × 0.082 λ 0 × 0.00468 λ 0 and retained 152 MHz bandwidth (2.4077–2.5599 GHz with FBW 7.64 %) with a maximum gain of −22 dBi where λ 0 is guided wavelength. The projected antenna has good performance in the multi-layer tissue model, male human head voxel model, frequency-dependent skin model, and in muscle phantom by maintaining a minimum −20 dB return-loss in the ISM band. The proposed antenna’s Device Integration using a frequency-dependent skin phantom was performed and the results are well-suited for biomedical applications in the ISM band. The bare antenna was used to study the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) in the human scalp. Where for 1 g and 10 g tissues the investigated results are 626.05 W/kg and 84.4 W/kg for an input power of 1 W, however the input power is limited to maximum 2.55 mW (for 1 g tissue) and 23.56 mW (for 10 g tissue) to comply with IEEE SAR guidelines. The qualities of the manufactured antenna are verified in a skin-imitating gel and animal tissue that exhibits good agreement with the simulation outcomes.