Kovacs G T, Storment C W, Halks-Miller M, Belczynski C R, Della Santina C C, Lewis E R, Maluf N I
Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, CA 94305.
IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 1994 Jun;41(6):567-77. doi: 10.1109/10.293244.
A new process for the fabrication of regeneration microelectrode arrays for peripheral and cranial nerve applications is presented. This type of array is implanted between the severed ends of nerves, the axons of which regenerate through via holes in the silicon and are thereafter held fixed with respect to the microelectrodes. The process described is designed for compatibility with industry-standard CMOS or BiCMOS processes (it does not involve high-temperature process steps nor heavily-doped etch-stop layers), and provides a thin membrane for the via holes, surrounded by a thick silicon supporting rim. Many basic questions remain regarding the optimum via hole and microelectrode geometries in terms of both biological and electrical performance of the implants, and therefore passive versions were fabricated as tools for addressing these issues in on-going work. Versions of the devices were implanted in the rat peroneal nerve and in the frog auditory nerve. In both cases, regeneration was verified histologically and it was observed that the regenerated nerves had reorganized into microfascicles containing both myelinated and unmyelinated axons and corresponding to the grid pattern of the via holes. These microelectrode arrays were shown to allow the recording of action potential signals in both the peripheral and cranial nerve setting, from several microelectrodes in parallel.
本文介绍了一种用于外周神经和颅神经应用的再生微电极阵列制造新工艺。这种阵列植入神经的断端之间，神经轴突通过硅中的通孔再生，然后相对于微电极固定。所描述的工艺设计为与行业标准的CMOS或BiCMOS工艺兼容（不涉及高温工艺步骤，也不涉及重掺杂蚀刻停止层），并为通孔提供了一个薄膜，周围是一个厚硅支撑边缘。关于植入物的生物学和电学性能方面的最佳通孔和微电极几何形状，仍有许多基本问题，因此制造了无源版本作为在正在进行的工作中解决这些问题的工具。这些器件的版本被植入大鼠腓神经和青蛙听神经中。在这两种情况下，通过组织学验证了再生，并且观察到再生神经已经重新组织成包含有髓和无髓轴突的微束，并且与通孔的网格图案相对应。这些微电极阵列被证明能够在周围神经和颅神经环境中，从多个微电极并行记录动作电位信号。
