Non-invasive focalized stimulation in deep

brain using the spatially symmetric array

Cite as: AIP Advances 12, 115326 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0121692
Submitted: 22 August 2022 • Accepted: 19 October 2022 • Published Online: 29 November 2022

Xiao Fang, Chen Yun, Chaoxu Zeng, et al.

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AIP Advances 12, 115326 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0121692 12, 115326

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Non-invasive focalized stimulation in deep brain

using the spatially symmetric array
Cite as: AIP Advances 12, 115326 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0121692
Submitted: 22 August 2022 • Accepted: 19 October 2022 •
Published Online: 29 November 2022

Xiao Fang,1 , 2,a) Chen Yun,1 Chaoxu Zeng,1 Hongfa Ding,2 Yongheng Huang,2 Wei Liu,1 and Yaoyao Luo1

AFFILIATIONS
1
The College of Nuclear Technology and Automation Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
2
Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Engineering
and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, China

a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: fangxiao930106@163.com

ABSTRACT
As a non-invasive neuromodulation technology, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) shows great potential in the treatment of mental
diseases. Using TMS to stimulate deep brain targets has significant scientific research value for the exploration of the causes of psychiatric
diseases. However, the focalized induced electrical field (E-field) generated by traditional TMS coils or coil arrays is largely restricted to
superficial cortical targets. To achieve focalized stimulation in the deep brain, a novel spatially symmetric array based on curved θ-type coils
(the θ-SSA) is proposed in this paper. Four θ-type coils in the array are symmetrical to the YZ and XZ planes. Each θ-type coil is placed
tangent to the human scalp and bent away from the human head to reduce the non-longitudinal component accumulation of the induced
E-field and enhance the stimulation focalization. The finite-element method is used to obtain the 3D spatial distributions of the intracra-
nial induced E-field generated by the proposed array. Results show that the θ-SSA can form an obvious focusing area in the deep brain
11 cm below the scalp. Under identical stimulation current excitation, the θ-SSA can increase the intracranial longitudinal attenuation ratio
by 77% compared to the traditional TMS coil. In addition, when generating the same focusing area, the stimulation depth of the θ-SSA is
1.67 times deeper than that of the traditional TMS coil. Meanwhile, the proposed array can dynamically steer the intracranial stimulated area,
and the spatial coordinates of the intracranial stimulation target point can be flexibly and continuously adjusted when changing the stimula-
tion current parameters applied to the array. An anatomically realistic human head model with gray matter is employed in this paper to verify
our method.
© 2022 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0121692

I. INTRODUCTION the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) region is located 7 cm

As an emerging neuromodulation method, transcranial
magnetic stimulation (TMS) is widely used in the clinical diagnosis
and scientific research of mental diseases.1–4 Achieving effective
stimulation of the deep brain is critical to the treatment of psy-
chiatric diseases and the exploration of the causes of psychiatric
diseases.5–8 As the most widely commercially used TMS coil,
the figure of eight coil (the FOE coil) can generate a focalized
induced electrical field (E-field) 1.50–2 cm below the human
scalp and enable modulation of cortical excitability. However,
most of the important deep brain regions are located at depths
of more than 4 cm below the human scalp, and they are beyond
the effective stimulation depth of the FOE coil.9,10 For exam-
ple, as the key neural basis for the study of major depression,
below the scalp.
In order to improve the stimulation depth and focalization in
non-invasive brain stimulation, many efforts have been made on
the design of TMS coils.11–19 The double cone coil is the earliest
formed deep brain stimulation coil, and its stimulation depth is
about 3–4 cm. The focusing area of the double cone coil reaches
94.40 cm2 , which has the risk of inducing epilepsy.11–13 The H-coil
is a representative deep brain stimulation coil, which can effec-
tively stimulate the tissues 3–6 cm below the scalp. However, the
stimulation depth improvement of the H-coil is at the cost of weak-
ening focalization.14–17 Studies have shown that under the same
excitation conditions, the volume of brain tissue stimulated by the
H-coil is six times that stimulated by the FOE coil.18 At a depth
of 10 cm, a multi-coil configuration called the Triple Halo Coil

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(THC) can generate a magnetic field seven times stronger than that
generated by the FOE coil. The design of the THC coil aimed to
maximize the depth of stimulation without concern for stimulation
focalization.19
In this paper, the spatially symmetric array based on the
curved θ-type coil (the θ-SSA) is introduced as a new TMS array
with a special geometrical structure. The finite element method
(FEM) is adopted to obtain the relationships between the geomet-
ric parameters of the proposed array and the spatial distribution
characteristics of the intracranial induced E-field. The influence
of the stimulation current parameters on the spatial coordinates
of the stimulation target point is analyzed with the mathematical
method. Results show that the θ-SSA has great advantages over
the traditional TMS coil in deep brain stimulation performance.
The θ-SSA makes it possible to achieve focalized stimulation in
the deep brain, and fewer non-targeted tissues will be exposed to
strong stimulation. In addition, the location of the stimulation tar-
get point generated by the array can be flexibly and continuously
adjusted.

II. METHODS
A. Geometry of the θ-SSA
Until now, the Figure of Eight coil (FOE coil) has been the most
commonly used TMS coil because of its good focalization. The tra-
ditional FOE coil pair consists of two circular coil units, and the
current directions of the two coil units are identical at the tangent
point. The targeted point is right below the tangent point of the FOE
coil pair. There is only one tangent point in the FOE coil, which is
advantageous to narrowing down the stimulating area; however, it
limits the enhancement of stimulation intensity, and the focusing
area is restricted to the superficial cortical targets.
According to the superposition principle of the electromagnetic
field, if the number of central tangent points of the magnetic coil pair
is increased to form two central segments with the identical current
direction, the amplitude of the induced E-field below the coil could
be further increased and would be helpful in increasing the stim-
ulation depth. In addition, considering the ergonomic structure of
the human head, the curved stimulation coil can physically limit the
induced E-field in a smaller domain, which could be beneficial in
improving the stimulation focalization. When multiple curved coils
are designed in a specific location to form a stimulation array, the
superposition effect of the intracranial induced E-field can be further
improved.
Based on these considerations, the θ-SSA is designed and pro-
posed in this paper. The geometry of the θ-SSA is shown in Fig. 1.
Different from the traditional planar TMS arrays, which are com-
posed of multiple flat coils, the θ-SSA consists of four curved θ-type
coils with identical geometric parameters. D (cm) describes the
vertical distance between the upper θ-type coil and the lower θ-type
coil on the same side of the head. The parameter D (cm) is marked
in Fig. 1.
Each curved θ-type coil contains two units. The stimulation
units in the θ-SSA are located in eight quadrants of the 3D coordi-
nate system (as marked in Fig. 1), and they are symmetrical relative
to the YZ plane and XZ plane. The 3D geometry and the planar
winding structure of the θ-type coil are shown in Fig. 2. The red
lines with arrows between copper conductors indicate the flowing
FIG. 1. 3D geometry of the θ-SSA and its relative positional relationship with the
head.
direction of the stimulation current. It should be noticed that in
practice, the θ-type coil is tightly wound into multi-turn and multi-
layer structures and there is no large gap between copper wires.
The red transparent ellipse indicates the area where the induced
E-field is strengthened below the θ-type coil. The θ-type coil can
be obtained by winding the copper wire into a common planar
semi-ellipse coil pair and then bending the initial coil pair along its
central axis.
The geometry of the θ-type coil can be described as a × b (mm2 )
with θ (○ ). a and b represent the length and width of the θ-type
coil, respectively, and θ stands for the bending angle. The parameters
a (mm), b (mm), and θ (○ ) are marked in Fig. 2.
Each θ-type coil of the θ-SSA is placed tangent to the human
scalp and bent away from the human head to reduce the non-
longitudinal component accumulation of the induced E-field and
improve the stimulation focalization. The spatially symmetrical
structure of the array enhances the superposition effect of the
induced E-field in the deep brain, and the double layer design of the
array is beneficial in further improving the stimulation depth.
B. Model establishment
(1) The θ-SSA: The coils in this paper are wound by copper wire
with a conductivity of 6.00 × 107 S/m. The size of copper is
3 × 4 mm2 . The coils have 16 turns and 4 layers. The cross
sections of the stimulation current are in a fixed rectangle

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FIG. 2. (a) 3D model and geometric parameters of the θ-type coil. (b) Planar
structure of the θ-type coil.
of 12 × 16 mm2 . The total turns of the coils are 4 × 4. The
frequency of the stimulation current applied in the array
is set at 5 kHz. The θ-type coil was first modeled on the
SolidWorks platform and then imported to the COMSOL
Multiphysics platform.
(2) The human head model: The anatomically realistic human
head model comes from the Population Head Model (PHM)
AIP Advances 12, 115326 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0121692
© Author(s) 2022
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Repository. The PHM Repository was developed by Lee et al.
using the SimNIBS pipeline, which was utilized to segment
anatomical regions from Human Connectome Project MRI
images.20 The biological conductivity of the gray matter is
set at 1.07 × 10−1 S/m.21 To analyze the longitudinal distri-
bution characteristics of the intracranial induced E-field, an
elliptical area with the half major axis equal to 10 cm and half
minor axis equal to 4.50 cm is taken on the intracranial YOZ
plane as the target plane. The target plane is shown by the
blue dotted line in Fig. 3.
(3) Meshes: The human head model and the proposed array
model were imported to the COMSOL Multiphysics platform
and the finite-element (FE) method was adopted to calculate
the spatial distribution of the intracranial E-field generated
by the array. To disregard mesh differences when comparing
the stimulation performance of arrays with different geomet-
ric parameters, all Finite Element (FE) models have the same
mesh size and are computed twice.
The details about the mesh size in this paper are as follows: the
maximum element size is 6.60 × 10−3 m, the minimum element size
is 2 × 10−2 m, the maximum element growth is 1.40, and the cur-
vature factor is 0.4. The level of the grid is fine enough, and the
computation converges smoothly.
C. Important characteristics of the induced
E-field in TMS
To explore the three-dimensional distribution of the induced
E-field generated by the θ-SSA within the brain, three intracranial
test lines [test line X (Y = 0, Z = 1.40 cm), test line Y (X = 0,
Z = 1.40 cm), and test line Z (X = 0, Y = 0)] and a longitudinal target
plane are set as shown in Fig. 3.
(1) Stimulation intensity: Under identical current excitation, the
higher amplitude of the induced E-field means stronger stim-
ulation, and it is more possible to change the nerve cell
membrane potential.
To meet the depth requirement of deep brain stimulation, in
this paper, the stimulation depth is set 11 cm below the scalp.
FIG. 3. (a) Blue dashed box repre-
sents the target plane. The red trans-
parent ellipse represents the focusing
E-field generated by the array. Test Line
Z (X = 0, Y = 0). (b) Test line X and
test line Y are located 11 cm below the
human scalp. The scalp vertex of the
human head is located at Z = 12.40 cm.
Test line X (Y = 0, Z = 1.40 cm) and test
line Y (X = 0, Z = 1.40 cm).
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The center of the human head coincides with the origin of the
coordinate axis, and the scalp vertex is located at Z = 12.40 cm.
Accordingly, Ez.max has been adopted on test line X and test line
Y at Z = 1.40 cm to characterize the stimulation intensity in the
deep brain.22
(1) Focalization: S70 and V 70 are adopted to evaluate the stim-
ulation focalization from 2D and 3D levels, respectively. S70
√ the
represents the focusing area on the target plane where
amplitude of the induced E-field exceeds Ez.max / 2. V 70
represents the focusing volume of the gray √ matter within
which the induced E-field exceeds Ez.max / 2.23–25
(2) Longitudinal attenuation ratio: The attenuation feature of the
induced E-field is evaluated with the ratio δ = EGM.max /Ez.max ,
and EGM.max is the maximum induced E-field on the
surface of the gray matter. A larger ratio (δ) means when
the intensity of the induced E-field on the surface of
the gray matter remains unchanged, a stronger induced
E-field can be obtained within the deep brain area, and the
attenuated performance of the intracranial induced E-field is
better.25,26
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Influence of the θ-SSA geometric parameters
on the intracranial distribution of the induced E-field
In this part, the influence of the geometric parameters a (mm),
b (mm), θ (○ ), and D (cm) of the proposed array on the distribu-
tion of the induced E-field in the deep brain is studied in detail. The
geometric parameters of the four θ-type coils are the same, and the
stimulation currents applied to the coils are with an amplitude of 1 A
and a frequency of 5 kHz.26,27
When the parameters of the stimulation currents in the four
coils of the array are identical, the array will generate a focus-
ing E-field in the deep brain, and the stimulation target point is
P (X = 0, Y = 0, Z = 1.40 cm).
1. Effect of a and b
As shown in Fig. 4(a), as the length of the θ-type coil increases
from 35 to 55 mm, the stimulation intensity increases by 54.10%,
and the intracranial longitudinal attenuation ratio δ increases by
13.40%. The focusing area and the volume increase by 1.20 cm2 and
5.20 cm3 , respectively. In addition, for parameter b, when b increases
from 20 to 40 mm, the stimulation intensity increases by 90%, and
intracranial longitudinal attenuation ratio δ increases by 20.50%.
The focusing area and the volume increase by 1.90 cm2 and 2.90 cm3 ,
respectively.
The effects of parameter a and parameter b on the spatial distri-
bution characteristics of the intracranial induced E-field are similar,
but the influence of parameter b on the spatial distribution charac-
teristics of the intracranial induced E-field is more obvious than that
of parameter a.
The increase in a and b is beneficial in enhancing the stim-
ulation intensity. The reason is that according to the Maxwell
equations, the stimulation intensity of the induced magnetic field
is related to the length and shape of the stimulation current’s inte-
gral path. As the circumference of the coil increases, the amplitude
AIP Advances 12, 115326 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0121692
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of the induced magnetic field increases, and the induced E-field
is enhanced as well. It shows that with the increase in the coil
size, the longitudinal attenuation performance of the intracranial
induced E-field is improved, which agrees with the results of pre-
vious studies that TMS coils with larger dimensions can provide
sufficient field strength and penetrate deeper.9,27 It also proves that
the stimulation focalization will be weakened with the increase in
a or b. Previous studies have indicated that TMS coils with larger
dimensions weaken the focalization, which is similar to the trend of
the θ-SSA.27,28
2. Effect of θ
The influence of θ on the spatial distribution characteristics of
the intracranial induced E-field is shown in Fig. 5(a). As we can see,
with the increase in θ, the stimulation intensity of the intracranial
target increased slightly, and the variation range was about 4.90%.
This is because the direction of the stimulating current in the con-
ductors away from the centre of the coil is opposite to that of the
central conductors of the coil. When the induced E-field generated
by the central conductors is in the direction of +Z, the induced
E-field generated by the conductors away from the centre is in
the direction of −Z. With the increase in the bending angle, the
distance between the conductors away from the centre of the coil
and the head increases, and the induced E-field in the −Z direction
is also reduced; hence, the induced E-field in the +Z direction in the
intracranial target area will increase slightly.
When θ was increased from 50○ to 90○ , the longitudinal attenu-
ation increased by 9.20%, the focusing area on the intracranial target
plane increased by 1.40 cm2 , and the focusing volume in the gray
matter decreased by 9.30 cm3 .
The above-mentioned results show that the bending character-
istics of the θ-type coil have a large impact on the spatial distribution
of the intracranial induced electric field and with the increase in the
bending angle, the intensity of deep brain stimulation, the longitudi-
nal attenuation, and 3D focalization can be improved. Considering
the stress borne by the coil skeleton and copper wire in the actual
processing process, the maximum bending angle selected in this
paper is 90○ .
3. Effect of D
When the positions of the stimulation units at the lower layer of
the array (unit V to unit VIII) are kept unchanged and the stimula-
tion units at the upper layer (unit I to unit IV) move up, the vertical
distance D increases from 6 to 11 cm. When a = 40 mm, b = 30 mm,
and θ = 80○ , the spatial distribution characteristics of the intracra-
nial induced E-field under different vertical distances D are shown
in Fig. 5(b).
With the increase in D, the stimulation intensity in the deep
brain decreases by 10.40%, the intracranial longitudinal attenuation
ratio δ decreases by 15.50%, S70 increases by 5.70 cm2 , and V 70
increases by 111.20 cm3 . Results prove that the increase in the ver-
tical distance between the upper and lower coils in the array will
significantly weaken the focalization in the deep brain. The closer the
coils of the array are placed to each other, the more conducive it is
to improve the spatial distribution characteristics of the intracranial
induced E-field.
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B. Relationship between stimulation currents
and the spatial coordinates of the intracranial
stimulation target point P
The stimulation target point P is at the position with the
strongest induced electric field on the target plane in the deep brain.
In the analysis of the previous part, the stimulation current in each
stimulation unit of the array is identical, and the stimulation target
point P (0, 0, and 1.40 cm) generated by the array is located at the
center of the head.
When the configuration of stimulation current parameters
in each stimulation unit changes, the spatial superposition effect
of the intracranial induced E-field will be affected to realize the
AIP Advances 12, 115326 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0121692
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FIG. 4. Relation between three-
dimensional spatial distribution of the
induced E-field and (a) the length of the
θ-type coil a (mm) and (b) the length of
the θ-type coil b (mm).
flexible adjustment of spatial coordinates of the stimulation target
point P.
1. The influence of the stimulation current ratio
α on the stimulation target point P
The XOY plane is used to divide the θ-SSA into upper parts
(unit I to unit IV) and lower parts (unit V to unit VIII), and the
amplitude ratio of the stimulation current in the upper units to that
in the lower units is set to α.
When a = 40 mm, b = 30 mm, θ = 80○ , and D = 11 cm,
keeping the current amplitude of the lower stimulation units
unchanged and increasing the stimulation current amplitude in the
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upper units to increase α from 1.0 to 3.0, the results show that
the stimulation target point gradually moves upward toward the
+Z direction.
The comparison of the induced electric field distribution on the
intracranial target plane at α = 1.5 and α = 2.5 is taken as an exam-
ple, shown in Fig. 6. Figures 6(a) and 6(b) show the distribution of
the intracranial induced E-field on the target plane at α = 1.5 and
α = 2.5, respectively. With the increase in α, the intracranial focused
field [the dark red area in Figs. 6(a) and 6(b)] moves upward obvi-
ously. When α increased from 1.5 to 2.3, the Z-ordinate of the
stimulation target point P increased from 2.40 to 6.10 cm. Figure 6(c)
shows the distribution of the induced E-field along test line Z at
AIP Advances 12, 115326 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0121692
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FIG. 5. Relation between three-
dimensional spatial distribution of the
induced E-field and (a) the bending
angle θ (○ ) and (b) the vertical distances
D (cm).
α = 1.5 and α = 2.5, and it also agrees with the result that the
stimulation target point moves upward.
The reason is that when α = 1, the currents in the upper and
lower stimulation units are equal, the induced E-fields in the upper
and lower half of the brain are symmetrical, and the stimulation tar-
get point P is located at the center of the brain. With the increase
in the current amplitude in the upper stimulation units, the induced
E-field in the upper half of the head is stronger than that in the lower
half, resulting in the upward movement of point P. When α < 2, the
Z coordinate of the stimulation target point increases quickly, and
when α > 2, the increase in the Z ordinate of the stimulation target
point is relatively slowed down.
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FIG. 6. (a) Distribution of the intracra-

nial induced E-field on the target plane at
α = 1.5. (b) The distribution of the
intracranial induced E-field on the target
plane at α = 2.5. (c) The distribution of
the induced E-field along test line Z at
α = 1.5 and α = 2.5.

FIG. 7. (a) Distribution of the intracra-

nial induced E-field on the target plane at
β = 2. (b) The distribution of the intracra-
nial induced E-field on the target plane at
β = 4. (c) The distribution of the induced
E-field along test line Y at β = 2 and
β = 4.

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With the use of the polynomial numerical fitting method,
the mathematical relationships between the Z ordinate of the
stimulation target point and α can be obtained as
Z(cm) = −4.26 + 5.81 × α − 0.66α2. (1)
The correlation coefficient R2 α = 0.98, which reaches a signifi-
cant level, and the fitting effect is good.
2. The influence of the stimulation current ratio
β on the stimulation target point P
Similarly, the XOZ plane is taken to divide the array into front
parts (units I, IV, V, and VIII) and rear parts (units II, III, VI, and
VII). The front stimulation units are located in the −Y direction, and
the rear stimulation units are located in the +Y direction. The cur-
rent amplitude ratio of the front units to the rear stimulation units is
β.
When a = 40 mm, b = 30 mm, θ = 80○ , and D = 11 cm, keeping
the current amplitude of the rear stimulation units unchanged and
increasing the stimulation current amplitude in the front stimula-
tion units to increase β from 1.0 to 3.0, it is found that the stimulation
target point P gradually moves toward the +Y direction, that is, in
the direction with a smaller amplitude of current.
The comparison of the induced electric field distribution on the
intracranial target plane at β = 2 and β = 4 is taken as an exam-
ple, shown in Fig. 7. Figures 7(a) and 7(b) show the distribution
of the intracranial induced E-field on the target plane at β = 2 and
AIP Advances 12, 115326 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0121692
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β = 4, respectively. With the increase in β, the intracranial focused
field [the dark red area in Figs. 7(a) and 7(b)] moves toward the +Y
direction. When β increased from 2 to 4, the Y-ordinate of the stim-
ulation target point P increased from 1.4 to 2.5 cm. Figure 7(c) shows
the distribution of the induced E-field along test line Y at β = 2 and
β = 4.
In the relationship between the ratio α and the Z-coordinate
of the stimulation target point P, as the ratio α increases, the
Z-coordinate moves toward the stimulation with the larger coil.
However, in the relationship between the ratio β and the
Y-coordinate of the stimulation target point P, the Y-coordinate
moves toward the stimulation units with smaller stimulation
currents as the ratio β increases. The reason is that under this cir-
cumstance, in the Y direction, the superposition effect of the induced
E-field generated by two stimulation units in a coil pair is the main
factor affecting the formation of the stimulation target point P.
When the amplitudes of the induced E-field vectors generated by
the two stimulation units are close and the included vector angle is
small, it is beneficial to form a higher synthetic E-field. If the stim-
ulation current applied to a certain stimulation unit in the coil is
large, the induced E-field generated by it needs to travel further to
attenuate to be close to the amplitude of the induced E-field gener-
ated by another stimulation unit, so the stimulation target point P
will be farther away from the stimulation unit with larger current
and closer to the stimulation unit with smaller current. This rule is
consistent with the previous research results that took the FOE coil
as an example.29
FIG. 8. (a) Relationship between the
Z-coordinate of the stimulation target
point and current ratio. (b) Relationship
between the Y-coordinate of the stimu-
lation target point and current ratio. (c)
The location of the simulation target point
under different current parameters.
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Using the polynomial numerical fitting method, the mathemat-

ical relationships between the Y-coordinate of the stimulation target
point and β can be obtained as

Y(cm) = −1.36 + 1.54 × β − 0.14 × β2. (2)

The correlation coefficient R2 β = 0.99. The fitting curves of α,

β, and the coordinates of simulation target point P are shown by the
black dotted line in Fig. 8. In addition, the red solid lines with points
represent the actual data to be fitted.
The above-mentioned results prove that the coordinates of the
deep brain stimulation target point P can be flexibly adjusted by
changing the amplitude ratio of stimulation currents in the array.
Since the focusing area of the θ-SSA is located at the center of
the human head with X = 0, with the mathematical relationships
between the Y-coordinate, Z-coordinate, and current amplitude
ratio of the array, the location of the stimulation target point P
can be determined. Compared with the traditional planar array, one
advantage of this array is that the array can steer the intracranial
stimulated area, the location of the stimulation target point is not
limited to the intersection of the array,30,31 and continuous adjust-
ment of the position of the intracranial stimulation target point can
be realized.

C. Comparison and discussion

To enable meaningful comparison, a traditional FOE coil with
an inner diameter R0 = 28 mm, an outer diameter R1 = 40 mm,
and a height of 16 mm is taken as the reference coil in this paper.
The resistance of the FOE coil is equal to the resistance of the
θ-type coil (a = 40 mm, b = 30 mm, and θ = 80○ ), and the resistance
is about 4 mΩ. Under the same excitation conditions, the three-
dimensional distribution of induced E-field generated by the FOE
coil and the θ-SSA (a = 40 mm, b = 30 mm, θ = 80○ , and D = 11 cm) is
shown in Fig. 9.
As we can see from Fig. 9, the induced E-field generated by
the FOE coil in the brain is concentrated in the superficial tissues,
while the θ-SSA can produce an obvious focusing area in the deep
brain. The intracranial longitudinal attenuation ratio δ of the FOE
coil is 5.25 × 10−2 , which is 77.30% lower than that of the θ-SSA.
The focusing area of the θ-SSA is 34.30 cm2 at a stimulation depth
of 11 cm, and the focusing area of the FOE coil is 34 cm2 at a
stimulation depth of 6.6 cm. It means under the same stimulation
conditions, when an approximately equal focusing area is generated,
the stimulation depth of the array is 1.67 times that of the traditional FIG. 9. Three dimensional spatial distributions of the induced E-field generated by
FOE coil. the (a) θ-SSA and (b) FOE coil.
After satisfying the therapeutic demands, the practical possi-
bility of realizing the θ-SSA is considered and discussed based on
our previous experience in developing coils and the advanced coil
manufacturing technology in Wuhan National High Magnetic Field IV. CONCLUSION
Center (WHMFC).32–34 The θ-type coil in this paper can be wound This paper aims to propose and introduce a new stimulation
by copper wires with a rectangular cross section of 3 × 4 mm2 and coil array. Different from the traditional planar TMS array, the
conductivity of 6.00 × 107 S/m. It can be supported by a θ-shaped array is composed of multiple symmetrically placed curved stim-
framework processed with an epoxy, featuring high strength and ulation coils. This special spatial structure enables the array to
high corrosion-resistance properties. The outermost layer of the coil realize focalized stimulation in the deep brain. The relationships
can also be reinforced with epoxy. Then the θ-SSA can be built by between array geometric parameters and spatial distribution char-
placing the four coils at certain positions around the human head acteristics of the intracranial induced E-field are discussed with
with the help of fixing brackets. the finite element numerical analysis method, and the relationships

AIP Advances 12, 115326 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0121692 12, 115326-9

© Author(s) 2022
 AIP Advances
between array stimulation current parameters and spatial coordi-
nates of the stimulation target point in the deep brain are obtained
by the mathematical method. Results show that the array can pro-
duce an obvious focusing area 11 cm below the scalp. Under the
same stimulation conditions, the array can improve the intracra-
nial longitudinal attenuation characteristics by 77% compared
with the traditional FOE coil. When producing an equal focusing
area, the stimulation depth of the array is 1.67 times that of the
traditional FOE coil. This design provides a flexible way to con-
tinuously adjust the spatial coordinates of the stimulation point
in the deep brain and makes it possible to generate an induced
E-field in the deep brain with fewer non-targeted tissues exposed to
strong stimulation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51407015) and by the Beijing
Municipal Science and Technology Commission (Grant Nos.
Z151100003215011 and Z161100001016010).
AUTHOR DECLARATIONS
Conflict of Interest
The authors have no conflicts to disclose.
Author Contributions
Xiao Fang: Conceptualization (lead); Formal analysis (lead);
Writing – original draft (lead); Writing – review & editing (equal).
Chen Yun: Formal analysis (equal); Writing – original draft (equal).
Chaoxu Zeng: Data curation (equal); Writing – review & editing
(lead). Hongfa Ding: Funding acquisition (equal); Supervision
(equal). Yongheng Huang: Formal analysis (equal); Validation
(equal); Writing – original draft (equal). Wei Liu: Methodology
(equal); Validation (equal); Writing – original draft (equal). Yaoyao
Luo: Validation (equal); Visualization (equal); Writing – review &
editing (equal).
DATA AVAILABILITY
The data that support the findings of this study are available
from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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