Low-cost electrodes for acutely implanted neural recording and stimulation systems

Implantable microelectrodes for functional electrical stimulation are often designed to be used in chronic long term applications and subjected to strict endurance and resolution requirements. Their manufacturing requires costly thin-film processing technologies derived from conventional semiconductor fabrication techniques. On the other hand, these constraints can be relaxed in certain applications to allow the use of relatively lower cost flexible printed circuit board techniques optimized for high-volume markets. In this paper, we address some of the related shortcomings with this manufacturing technology, and suggest modifications in the fabrication process.