Flexible cable assembly for medical implantation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11324944-B1
Application number	US-201916520123-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 23, 2019
Priority date	Jul 23, 2019
Publication date	May 10, 2022
Grant date	May 10, 2022

Abstract

An electrical cable assembly amenable to implantation into a body includes a flexible cable. The flexible cable includes a dielectric substrate, a conductor lead for conducting an electrical signal, a conductive barrier layer, and an overmold layer. The conductor lead is embedded within and surrounded by the dielectric substrate. The conductive barrier layer surrounds the dielectric substrate and encases the dielectric substrate and conductor lead in a cavity. The conductive barrier layer is a continuous material layer that is neither braided nor spiral wrapped and provides a hermetic barrier formed of a metallic or inorganic material. The overmold layer provides one or more of mechanical protection or strain relief to the conductive barrier layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical cable assembly suitable for implantation into a body, the electrical cable assembly comprising:
a flexible cable including:
a dielectric substrate;
a conductor lead for conducting an electrical signal, the conductor lead embedded within and surrounded by the dielectric substrate;
a conductive barrier layer surrounding the dielectric substrate and encasing the dielectric substrate and conductor lead in a cavity, the conductive barrier layer being a continuous material layer that is neither braided nor spiral wrapped and provides a hermetic barrier formed of a metallic or conductive inorganic material;
an overmold layer to provide one or more of mechanical protection or strain relief to the conductive barrier layer; and
one or more grounding vias disposed within the cavity and extending across the cavity in an interior region of the cavity to short circuit opposite sides of the conductive barrier layer at the interior region.

2. The electrical cable assembly of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric substrate comprises two layers of either Parylene or Polyimide that sandwich the conductor lead therebetween and wherein the continuous material layer of the conductive barrier layer comprises a sputtered metal film or an atomic layer deposited metal film.

3. The electrical cable assembly of claim 1 , wherein the flexible cable and the cavity defined by the conductive barrier layer have a rectangular cross-section.

4. The electrical cable assembly of claim 3 , wherein the flexible cable is molded into an undulating wave shape.

5. The electrical cable assembly of claim 3 , wherein the conductive barrier layer, the dielectric substrate, and the conductor lead form a linear capacitor that contains a direct current (DC) electric field emitted by the electrical signal to within the cavity when the electrical signal is flowing through the conductor lead.

6. The electrical cable assembly of claim 5 , wherein the conductive barrier layer comprises a ground plane surrounding the conductor lead.

7. The electrical cable assembly of claim 6 , wherein the conductive barrier layer comprises a hermetic moisture barrier that hermetically seals the conductor lead within the cavity.

8. The electrical cable assembly of claim 1 , wherein the overmold layer comprises a multi-layer coating that is both a moisture barrier and a mechanical strain relief.

9. The electrical cable assembly of claim 1 , wherein the flexible cable further includes:
a plurality of conductor leads, including the conductor lead, embedded within the dielectric substrate and extending parallel to each other within the cavity, wherein the conductor leads are disposed on different planes within the cavity.

10. The electrical cable assembly of claim 9 , further comprising
an integrated circuit mounted to first end region of the flexible cable, wherein a first contact on the integrated circuit is electrical coupled to one of the plurality of conductor leads using a first signal vias.

11. The electrical cable assembly of claim 10 , further comprising:
a circuit component coupled to the second end region of the flexible cable opposite the first end region, wherein a second contact on the circuit component is electrically coupled to the one of the plurality of conductor leads using a second signal vias, wherein the flexible cable operates as an umbilical cord between the integrated circuit and the circuit component.

12. The electrical cable assembly of claim 10 , wherein the first end region of the flexible cable includes an mounting region where the overmold layer and the conductive barrier layer are absent, wherein the integrated circuit is bonded to the mounting region, and wherein a conductive conforming material is disposed over perimeter gaps in the mounting region extending around the integrated circuit and electrically connects sides of the integrated circuit to exposed portions of the conductive barrier layer encircling the mounting region.

13. The electrical cable assembly of claim 12 , wherein the integrated circuit comprises a bare silicon die without an encasing package.

14. The electrical cable assembly of claim 12 , wherein the conductive conforming material is coated over an entirety of the integrated circuit.

15. The electrical cable assembly of claim 10 , further comprising:
a seal ring formed of a conductive material extending around a perimeter of an underside of the integrated circuit that mates to the flexible cable, wherein the seal ring electrically connects and physically seals the underside of the integrated circuit to the conductive barrier layer.

16. A flexible umbilical cord amenable to implantation into a body and configurable for connecting an electrical component to an integrated circuit, the flexible umbilical cord comprising:
a dielectric substrate;
a conductor lead for conducting an electrical signal, the conductor lead embedded within and surrounded by the dielectric substrate;
a conductive barrier layer surrounding the dielectric substrate and encasing the dielectric substrate and conductor lead in a cavity, the conductive barrier layer being a continuous material layer that is neither braided nor spiral wrapped and provides a hermetic barrier formed of a metallic or inorganic material, wherein the cavity defined by the conductive barrier layer has a rectangular cross-section; and
one or more grounding vias disposed within the cavity and extending across the cavity in an interior region of the cavity to short circuit opposite sides of the conductive barrier layer at the interior region.

17. The flexible umbilical cord of claim 16 , further comprising:
an overmold layer coated over the conductive barrier layer to provide one or more of mechanical protection or strain relief to the conductive barrier layer.

18. The flexible umbilical cord of claim 17 , wherein the conductive barrier layer, the dielectric substrate, and the conductor lead form a linear capacitor that contains a direct current (DC) electric field emitted by the electrical signal to within the cavity when the electrical signal is flowing through the conductor lead.

19. The flexible umbilical cord of claim 17 , wherein the conductive barrier layer comprises a ground plane surrounding the conductor lead.

20. The flexible umbilical cord of claim 17 , wherein the conductive barrier layer comprises a hermetic moisture barrier that hermetically seals the conductor lead within the cavity.

21. The flexible umbilical cord of claim 17 , wherein the overmold layer comprises a multi-layer coating that is both a moisture barrier and a mechanical strain relief.

22. The flexible umbilical cord of claim 16 , wherein the flexible cable further includes:
a plurality of conductor leads, including the conductor lead, embedded within the dielectric substrate and extending parallel to each other within the cavity, wherein the conductor leads are disposed on different planes within the cavity.

23. The flexible umbilical cord of claim 17 , wherein the dielectric substrate, the conductor lead, the conductive barrier layer, and the overmold layer have a molded-in undulating wave shape along a length of the flexible umbilical card.

Assignees

• Verily Life Sciences Llc

Inventors

• Kuiper Stein
• Shah Kedar
• Johnson Patricia
• Ram Rakhyani Anil
• Lee Shungneng
• Geotz Georges

Classifications

• H01B7/048

  for implantation into a human or animal body, e.g. pacemaker leads · CPC title

• A61N1/08

  Arrangements or circuits for monitoring, protecting, controlling or indicating {(for external stimulators A61N1/3603; for implantable neurostimulators A61N1/36128; for heart stimulators A61N1/37; for defibrillators A61N1/3925)} · CPC title

• A61N1/05 Primary

  for implantation or insertion into the body, e.g. heart electrode (A61N1/06 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61N1/3752

  Details of casing-lead connections · CPC title

• H05K1/0218

  by printed shielding conductors, ground planes or power plane (H05K1/0236 takes precedence) · CPC title