Medical devices have made a big step forward in the past decades. One of the most noticeable medical events of the twenties century was the development of long-lasting, wireless electronic implants such as identification tags, pacemakers and neuronal stimulators. These devices were only made possible after the development of small scale radio frequency electronics. Small radio electronic circuits provided a way to operate in both transmission and reception mode allowing an implant to communicate with an external world from inside a living organism. Bidirectional communication is a vital feature that has been increasingly implemented in similar systems to continuously record biological parameters, to remotely configure the implant, or to wirelessly stimulate internal organs. Further miniaturisation of implantable devices to make the operation of the device more comfortable for the patient requires rethinking of the whole radio system concept making it both power efficient and of high performance. Nowadays, high data throughput, large bandwidth, and long term operation requires new radio systems to operate at UHF (ultra-high frequency) bands as this is the most suitable for implantable applications. For instance, the MICS (Medical Implant Communication System) band was introduced for the communication with implantable devices. However, this band could only enable communication at low data rates. This was acceptable for the transmission of telemetry data such as heart beat rate, respiratory and temperature with sub Mbps rates. Novel developments such as neuronal and prosthetic implants require significantly higher data rates more than 10 Mbps that can be achieved with large bandwidth communicating systems operating at higher frequencies in a GHz range. Higher operating frequency would also resolve a strong issue of MICS devices, namely the scale of implants defined by dimensions of antennas used at this band. Operation at 2.4 GHz ISM band was recognized to be the most adequate as it has a moderate absorption in the human body providing a compromise between an antenna/implant scale and a total power efficiency of the communicating system. This thesis addresses a key challenge of implantable radio communicating systems namely an efficient and small scale antenna design which allows a high yield fabrication in a microelectronic fashion. It was demonstrated that a helical antenna design allows the designer to precisely tune the operating frequency, input impedance, and bandwidth by changing the geometry of a self-assembled 3D structure defined by an initial 2D planar layout. Novel stimuli responsive materials were synthesized, and the rolled-up technology was explored for fabrication of 5.5-mm-long helical antenna arrays operating in ISM bands at 5.8 and 2.4 GHz. Characterization and various applications of the fabricated antennas are successfully demonstrated in the thesis.

Medical devices have made a big step forward in the past decades. One of the most noticeable medical events of the twenties century was the development of long-lasting, wireless electronic implants such as identification tags, pacemakers and neuronal stimulators. These devices were only made possible after the development of small scale radio frequency electronics. Small radio electronic circuits provided a way to operate in both transmission and reception mode allowing an implant to communicate with an external world from inside a living organism. Bidirectional communication is a vital feature that has been increasingly implemented in similar systems to continuously record biological parameters, to remotely configure the implant, or to wirelessly stimulate internal organs. Further miniaturisation of implantable devices to make the operation of the device more comfortable for the patient requires rethinking of the whole radio system concept making it both power efficient and of high performance. Nowadays, high data throughput, large bandwidth, and long term operation requires new radio systems to operate at UHF (ultra-high frequency) bands as this is the most suitable for implantable applications. For instance, the MICS (Medical Implant Communication System) band was introduced for the communication with implantable devices. However, this band could only enable communication at low data rates. This was acceptable for the transmission of telemetry data such as heart beat rate, respiratory and temperature with sub Mbps rates. Novel developments such as neuronal and prosthetic implants require significantly higher data rates more than 10 Mbps that can be achieved with large bandwidth communicating systems operating at higher frequencies in a GHz range. Higher operating frequency would also resolve a strong issue of MICS devices, namely the scale of implants defined by dimensions of antennas used at this band. Operation at 2.4 GHz ISM band was recognized to be the most adequate as it has a moderate absorption in the human body providing a compromise between an antenna/implant scale and a total power efficiency of the communicating system. This thesis addresses a key challenge of implantable radio communicating systems namely an efficient and small scale antenna design which allows a high yield fabrication in a microelectronic fashion. It was demonstrated that a helical antenna design allows the designer to precisely tune the operating frequency, input impedance, and bandwidth by changing the geometry of a self-assembled 3D structure defined by an initial 2D planar layout. Novel stimuli responsive materials were synthesized, and the rolled-up technology was explored for fabrication of 5.5-mm-long helical antenna arrays operating in ISM bands at 5.8 and 2.4 GHz. Characterization and various applications of the fabricated antennas are successfully demonstrated in the thesis.