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

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.