Evaluation of biodegradable coating on the stiffness control of the polyimide-based probe used in neural devices

In this work, an assembled and integrated flexible probe array with biodegradable coating for stiffness control is demonstrated. The proposed method will help to overcome the stiffness issue faced by polymeric probe array during insertion into the brain tissue. It is proposed to do coating with biodegradable material to increase the stiffness of the probe shanks. Assembly process is simplified as polymer probe and cable were being monolithically fabricated, only the connector needs to be soldered onto the bonding pads. To enhance the soldering between connector and bonding pads, rigid stiffener is designed at the bonding pads region to provide robust support for soldering process and for insertion process.