Patent ID: 8880179

Claim:
A vision regeneration assist apparatus for regenerating a patient's vision by giving an electrical stimulation to cells forming a retina, the apparatus comprising: a substrate including a plurality of electrodes; a control unit that controls an electrical stimulation pulse to be transmitted to the electrodes; a mount that is formed from a ceramic sintered element made of an insulating material forming a hermetic bottom for isolating and sealing the control unit from outside, the mount including: a plurality of through holes formed through the mount in a thickness direction, an upper surface on which the control unit is placed; and a lower surface on which the substrate is placed; an internal conductor that is filled into the through holes of the mount to electrically connect the control unit with wires extending from the electrodes and that includes: a first conductive material which is filled to a predetermined depth from openings of the through holes at the upper surface of the mount, the first conductive material including a primary member which takes at least one type of conductive material, which is not fused at a sintering temperature of the mount, the first conductive material including at least one type of molybdenum, tungsten, and silver, the first conductive material filled to the predetermined depth having a uniform coefficient of thermal expansion approximately equal to a coefficient of thermal expansion of a material forming the mount; and a second conductive material which is formed from a conductive material that is filled into a remaining of the through holes, which faces the substrate and the remaining of the through holes being other than a part in which the first conductive material is filled to the predetermined depth, the second conductive material exhibiting biocompatibility, the second conductive material including one of platinum and gold; and wherein the first conductive material is different from the second conductive material.