Smart neuroprobes with disposable micro-machined shank protection defined at wafer level

Author

Andrei, A. ; Lopez, Carolina Mora ; Soussan, P.

Author_Institution

Imec, Leuven, Belgium

fYear

2013

fDate

9-12 Sept. 2013

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

3

Abstract

This paper presents the design, processing and packaging of one of the most advanced neural implants to date: a neural implant providing a digital signal out corresponding to the simultaneous recording from 52 locally amplified electronically selectable electrodes anywhere along its 1cm long, 100um wide and only 50um thick implantable shank. For safer device handling during packaging and manipulation, the extremely fragile shank containing the CMOS analog amplification sites has been protected by a much wider and robust structure defined at wafer level during the processing of the implant itself. Due to its particular design, the end user can easily remove this protection just few moments before the actual surgical implantation of the device.

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; biomedical electrodes; biomedical electronics; integrated circuit design; micromachining; probes; prosthetics; wafer level packaging; CMOS analog amplification sites; device handling; electronically selectable electrodes; micromachined shank protection; neural implants; size 1 cm; size 100 mum; size 50 mum; smart neuroprobes; surgical implantation; wafer level packaging; CMOS integrated circuits; Electrodes; Implants; Metals; Packaging; Probes; Silicon; micro-machined protection; neuroprobe; thinning;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microelectronics Packaging Conference (EMPC) , 2013 European

Conference_Location

Grenoble

Type

conf

Filename

6698637