IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering
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IEEE Trans Biomed Eng · Apr 1994
A micromachined silicon sieve electrode for nerve regeneration applications.
A micromachined silicon sieve electrode has been developed and fabricated to record from and stimulate axons/fibers of the peripheral nervous system by utilizing the nerve regeneration principle. The electrode consists of a 15-microns-thick silicon support rim, a 4-microns-thick diaphragm containing different size holes to allow nerve regeneration, thin-film iridium recording/stimulating sites, and an integrated silicon ribbon cable, all fabricated using boron etch-step and silicon micromachining techniques. The thin diaphragm is patterned using reactive ion etching to obtain different size holes with diameters as small as 1 micron and center-center spacings as small as 10 microns. ⋯ These sites have impedances of less than 100 k omega @ 1 kHz and charge delivery capacities in the 4-6 mC/cm2 range. The fabrication process is single-sided, has high yield, requires only five masks, and is compatible with integrated multilead silicon ribbon cables. The electrodes were implanted between the cut ends of peripheral taste fibers of rats (glossopharyngeal nerve), and axons functionally regenerated through holes, responding to chemical, mechanical, and thermal stimuli.
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IEEE Trans Biomed Eng · Apr 1994
Silicon ribbon cables for chronically implantable microelectrode arrays.
This paper describes the design, fabrication, and testing of miniature ultraflexible ribbon cables for use with micromachined silicon microprobes capable of chronic recording and/or stimulation in the central nervous system (CNS). These interconnects are of critical importance in reliably linking these microelectrodes to the external world through a percutaneous connector. The silicon cables allow the realization of multilead, multistrand shielded local interconnects that are extremely flexible and yet strong enough to withstand normal handling and surgical manipulation. ⋯ The series lead resistance is typically 4 k omega/cm for polysilicon and 500 omega/cm for tantalum, with shunt capacitance values of 5-10 pF/cm and an interlead capacitance below 10 fF/cm. Soak tests in buffered saline performed under electrical and mechanical stress have been underway for over three years and show subpicoampere leakage levels. Silicon microprobes with built-in ribbon cables have remained functional for up to one year in the guinea pig CNS, recording driven single-unit activity and maintaining impedance levels in the 1-7 M omega range.
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IEEE Trans Biomed Eng · Apr 1994
Optimal discrimination and classification of neuronal action potential waveforms from multiunit, multichannel recordings using software-based linear filters.
We describe advanced protocols for the discrimination and classification of neuronal spike waveforms within multichannel electrophysiological recordings. The programs are capable of detecting and classifying the spikes from multiple, simultaneously active neurons, even in situations where there is a high degree of spike waveform superposition on the recording channels. The protocols are based on the derivation of an optimal linear filter for each individual neuron. ⋯ First, a general single-pass automatic template estimation algorithm was derived and implemented. Second, the filters were implemented within a software environment providing a greatly enhanced functional organization and user interface. The utility of the analysis approach was demonstrated on samples of multiunit electrophysiological recordings from the cricket abdominal nerve cord.