TURKISH STUDENT RECEIVES AWARD IN CIRCUIT DESIGN CONTEST

Ann Arbor, MI -- Dr. Tayfun Akin, a Turkish engineer who recently received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan, won the first prize in Experienced Analog/Digital Mixed Signal category in the 1994 Student VLSI (Very Large Scale Integrated) Circuit Design Contest. The nationwide contest, the first of its kind, recognized innovative integrated circuits designed by university students and was sponsored by Mentor Graphics Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Texas Instruments, and Electronic Design Magazine. The prize was $4000 cash to Tayfun Akin and a Texas Instrument's laptop computer to the University of Michigan.

In his letter to Tayfun Akin, Mr. Walden C. Rhines, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mentor Graphics Corporation, noted that several judges described Dr. Akin's work as "very impressive." He also wrote that "Mentor Graphics is pleased to see students doing design work of this caliber with our software."

The title of Dr. Akin's design was "A Telemetrically Powered and Controlled Implantable Neural Recording System with CMOS Interface Circuitry." The design was a part of his Ph. D. thesis, which involved the development of a sieve electrode and a leadless, implantable small neural recording system to obtain neural signals from regenerated axons. The electrode contains a number of holes as small as 1 micrometer in diameter, the smallest ever reported for this kind of electrode. The small holes allow a deliberately severed nerve to regrow through the holes so that neural signals from individual nerves can be recorded with the small recordings sites around the holes. Parallel recording from individual nerves is important to further our understanding the nervous system. Another major application of the electrode and the system is in making a direct interface between the human nervous system and the outside world. This will permit the use of electrical signals generated by the brain and traveling in the nervous system to be used as control signals to drive a variety of prostheses and to stimulate paralyzed muscles. The chip provides signal amplification and processing and transmits the recorded signals to the outside world using radio-frequency (RF) telemetry, eliminating the need for a cable through the skin.

Dr. Akin fabricated the electrodes at facilities at the University of Michigan using silicon micromachining technology. He and one of his colleagues also fabricated the chips which interface with the electrode.

Born in Van, Turkey in 1966, Dr. Akin came to the US in 1987 for his graduate studies with a scholarship provided by the NATO Science Scholarship Program through the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). He received his MS and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan in 1989 and 1994, respectively. He was the president of the University of Michigan Turkish Student Association (UMTSA) in the 1989-1990 academic year. During his presidency, the UMTSA received "Student Recognition Award" from the University of Michigan "in recognition of significant contributions through leadership and service to the University community." Dr. Akin also received recognition in 1994 by The Vice President of Student Affairs and The Alumni Association of The University of Michigan for "outstanding leadership and contribution to the quality of student life."

Dr. Akin is currently working at the University of Michigan as a Research Fellow and soon will join to the faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey.