Benzocyclobutene (BCB) based intracortical neural implant

Abstract

Abstract

Improving mechanical stiffness of coated benzocyclobutene (BCB) based neural implant

“…Experimentally it has been measured by Najafi that the maximum penetration stress is 4 x 10 8 and 2 x 10 9 dynes / cm 2 to penetrate rat pia and dura respectively for a silicon probe of 30 µm thickness and 80 µm in width [8]. The buckling strength of BCB can be increased significantly by micro-machining a thin layer of silicon onto the electrode [3]. Similar studies have shown that applying a thin coating of polymer can increase the buckling strength of silicon probes [6].…”

“…Recently, we have shown the first successful fabrication [3] and neural recording capability of Benzocyclobutene (BCB) polymer based neural interface [4 ]. BCB is a new class of polymer developed by Dow under the trade name Cyclotene with unique properties that we believe is suitable for chronic implant application if proven long-term biocompatibility.…”

“…We have studied three different coating materials such as thermo-reversible gel Poloxamer 407, glucose (C 6 H 12 O 6 ) and regular table sugar that were applied by dip coating onto the implant surface. The microfabrication process details are reported in our previous papers [3]. The schematic diagram of the BCB neural implant is shown in Fig 1. The portion of the tip inserted in the brain is 1.5 mm in length and 0.16 mm in width.…”