A three-dimensional silicon-based microelectrode for neural recording
Abstract
Recording neural ensembles from awake, behaving animals has been an extremely successful experimental paradigm. In particular, recording neuronal ensembles allows real-time interpretation of neural codes as well as the detection of dynamic changes within a process. In recent years, microfabricated recording electrodes have attracted a great deal of attention for recording neural ensembles. These electrodes are fabricated using standard microelectronics and MEMS technologies and can offer a higher spatial resolution, better reproducibility, and superior recording capabilities. The most significant advantage of the silicon-based microelectrodes technology is that it enables the monolithic integration of electronics, such as amplifier, buffer, multiplexer and so on, as part of the probe structure. These active microelectrodes improve the quality of recording signals, reduce the output interconnections and provide the selection on recording sites, comparing with passive microelectrode (without integration with electronics). A three-dimensional (3-D) microfabricated electrode is particularly attractive since neurons are highly packed 3-D assemblies of cell bodies in the central nervous system; a 3-D microelectrode is advantageous in recording (or simulating) from a more realistic cytoarchitecture. Although one can fabricate an array of electrodes along a silicon shank, a truly 3-D configuration is harder to achieve. In this thesis, a microfabricated passive 3-D electrode in single unit format will be proposed and it overthrows the previous concept that 3-D configuration must comes from the array. The 3-D structure is accomplished in which the assembly of each shank is automated through a folding process, thus removing any manual handling, considerably simplifying the manufacturing. This 3-D electrode has several important advantages compared to the currently used wire electrodes and silicon-based microelectrodes. These include: (1) batch-scale fabrication, (2) easy achieve tetrode configuration for spike sorting, (3) superior signal-to-noise ratio without requiring the physical movement, (4) integration with active electronics, (5) 3-D configuration in a single unit format and can be extended to array and (6) scalability.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Ziaie, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Neurosciences|Electrical engineering
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