Detachable ultrasonic enabled inserter for neural probe insertion using biodissolvable Polyethylene Glycol

We report on a method to reversibly bond and debond silicon neural probes to a silicon ultrasonic horn to enable ultrasonic actuation during neural probe insertion. Neural probes can be attached using Poly-Ethylene Glycol (PEG), a bio-dissolvable polymer, and consequently debonded from the ultrasonic driver by aqueous dissolution. We demonstrate reduced force during probe insertion corresponding to ultrasonically micro-cutting of tissue. Reduced insertion forces can lead to less damage and reduced immune response for longer life neural interfaces. Three different configurations of neural probes were tested demonstrating insertion force reduction significantly by a factor of 4.3. The probes were driven by 30 V_pp at 101.7 kHz. Our approach can potentially help inserting neural probes made in any new technology ultrasonically and increase the lifetime of neural probe recording sites.