US 8,874,182 B2Granted

Encapsulated electronics

AssigneeGoogle Inc.

InventorsJames Etzkorn, Babak Amirparviz

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Abstract

An eye-mountable device includes an electrochemical sensor embedded in a polymeric material configured for mounting to a surface of an eye. The electrochemical sensor includes a working electrode and a reference electrode that reacts with an analyte to generate a sensor measurement related to a concentration of the analyte in a fluid to which the eye-mountable device is exposed. An example assembly process includes: forming a sacrificial layer on a working substrate; forming a first layer of a bio-compatible material on the sacrificial layer; providing an electronics module on the first layer of the bio-compatible material, forming a second layer of the bio-compatible material to cover the electronics module; and annealing the first and second layers of the bio-compatible material together to form an encapsulated structure having the electronics module fully encapsulated by the bio-compatible material.

Claims19

Dependent claims

An eye-mountable device comprising:

a transparent polymeric material having a concave surface and a convex surface, wherein
the concave surface is configured to be removably mounted over a corneal surface and the convex surface is configured to be compatible with eyelid motion when the concave surface is so mounted;
and
an encapsulated electronics structure at least partially embedded in the transparent polymeric material, wherein the encapsulated electronics structure comprises a first layer of a bio-compatible material, a second layer of the bio-compatible material, an electrochemical sensor that includes a working electrode and a reference electrode and an electronics module, wherein portions of the first and second layers of the bio-compatible
material are annealed together such that the electronics module is encapsulated within the biocompatible material, wherein the second layer has an opening that exposes the working electrode and reference electrode, and wherein the electronics module includes:
an antenna;
and a controller electrically connected to the electrochemical sensor and the antenna, wherein the controller is configured to control the electrochemical sensor to obtain a sensor measurement related to a concentration of an analyte in a fluid to which the eye-mountable device is exposed and use the antenna to indicate the sensor measurement.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/741,725Filed 15 Jan 2013
Published: US 2014/0200424 A117 Jul 2014
Granted: 28 Oct 2014
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification36 codes

A61B 5/6821
Head: eye
A61B 5/0002
Measuring for diagnostic purposes ; Identification of persons: remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals…
A61B 5/0004
Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network: characterised by the type of…
A61B 5/14507
Measuring characteristics of blood in vivo, e.g. gas concentration or pH-value ; Measuring characteristics of body fluids or tissues, e.g.…:…