RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Hybrid multisite silicon neural probe with integrated flexible connector for interchangeable packaging
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.02.02.429112
DO 10.1101/2021.02.02.429112
A1 Ashley Novais
A1 Carlos Calaza
A1 José Fernandes
A1 Helder Fonseca
A1 João Gaspar
A1 Luis Jacinto
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/02/02/2021.02.02.429112.abstract
AB Multisite neural probes are a fundamental tool to study brain function. Hybrid silicon/polymer neural probes, in particular, allow the integration of complex probe geometries, such as multi-shank designs, with flexible biocompatible cabling. Despite these advantages and benefiting from the highly reproducible fabrication methods on both silicon and polymer substrates, they have not been widely available. This paper presents the development, fabrication, characterization, and in vivo electrophysiological assessment of a hybrid multisite multi-shank silicon probe with a monolithically integrated polyimide flexible interconnect cable. The fabrication process was optimized on wafer level and several neural probes with 64 gold electrode sites equally distributed along 8 shanks with an integrated 8 μm-thick highly flexible polyimide interconnect cable were produce. To avoid the time-consuming bonding of the probe to definitive packaging, the flexible cable was designed to terminate in a connector pad that can mate with commercial zero-insertion force (ZIF) connectors for electronics interfacing. This allows great experimental flexibility since interchangeable packaging can be used according to experimental demands. High-density distributed in vivo electrophysiological recordings were obtained from the hybrid neural probes with low intrinsic noise and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.