Winkin N, Mokwa W
RWTH Aachen University, Institute of Materials in Electrical Engineering 1, D-52074 Aachen, Germany.
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2012;2012:3882-5. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2012.6346815.
Micro-electrodes and micro-electrode arrays (MEAs) for stimulating neurons or recording action potentials are widely used in medical applications or biological research. For medical implants in many applications like brain implants or retinal implants there is a need for flexible MEAs with a large area and a large number of stimulation electrodes. In this work a flexible MEA with an embedded flexible silicon dummy CMOS-chip facing these challenges has been designed, manufactured and characterized. This approach offers the possibility by connecting and addressing several of these MEAs via a bus system, to increase the number and the density of electrodes significantly. This paper describes the design and fabrication process. Results on the mechanical and electrical behavior will be given and possible improvements for medical applications by this novel approach will be discussed.
用于刺激神经元或记录动作电位的微电极和微电极阵列（MEA）在医学应用或生物学研究中被广泛使用。对于许多应用中的医疗植入物，如脑植入物或视网膜植入物，需要大面积且带有大量刺激电极的柔性MEA。在这项工作中，设计、制造并表征了一种带有嵌入式柔性硅虚拟互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）芯片的柔性MEA，该MEA面临着这些挑战。这种方法通过总线系统连接和寻址多个此类MEA，提供了显著增加电极数量和密度的可能性。本文描述了设计和制造过程。将给出关于机械和电气性能的结果，并讨论这种新方法在医学应用中的可能改进。
