Synthesis of Nanoscale Devices for Neural Electrophysiological Imaging
- PDF / 2,241,994 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 612 x 792 pts (letter) Page_size
- 51 Downloads / 161 Views
J18.17.1
Synthesis of Nanoscale Devices for Neural Electrophysiological Imaging Ludovico M. Dell’Acqua-Bellavitis1,4, Jake D. Ballard2,4, Rena Bizios3,4, and Richard W. Siegel2,4 1
Engineering Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA. Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA. 3 Biomedical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA. 4 Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA. 2
Abstract A device with nanometric resolution in space and millisecond resolution in time, intended for neural electrophysiological imaging applications, is being developed and fabricated for in vitro experimentation. The device consists of (i) an integrated circuit (IC) platform and (ii) a carbon nanotube/polymethylmethacrylate composite construct. Arrays of equi-spaced multiple gold electrodes were fabricated using combined e-beam and optical lithography to achieve three types of IC platforms with three different scales of resolution. Carbon nanotubes were synthesized on silicon dioxide substrates using a chemical vapor deposition method. Subsequently, the carbon nanotube arrays were infiltrated with in situ polymerized polymethylmethacrylate to achieve electrical insulation between adjacent nanotube bundles. The composite construct was fabricated and exhibited electrical conductivity and connectivity between two faces of the composite along the length of the nanotubes. The carbon nanotube arrays grown on silicon dioxide exhibited uniform length and a high level of alignment, which was preserved subsequent the in situ polymerization process. The devices can be deployed as an interface between ICs and mammalian cells. Introduction This study was motivated by the need for devices with nanometer resolution in space and millisecond resolution in time that can be used for in vitro electrophysiological experiments on mammalian cells and with the capability to be used for neural electrophysiological imaging. A new set of multielectrode probes, which utilize integrated circuit fabrication techniques and vertically aligned polymer infiltrated carbon nanotubes to overcome the high invasiveness associated with conventional microelectrodes, have been designed and are being fabricated. Materials and Methods Three geometrically different types of integrated circuit platforms were designed and fabricated as the basis for electrophysiological studies of neuronal cells at the multi-cellular, inter-cellular and intra-cellular levels. The characteristic features of these devices are summarized in Table 1.
J18.17.2
Table 1. Dimensions of the geometric features for the three types of integrated circuit (IC) platforms designed and fabricated in this study.
Minimum feature size Distance between electrodes Dimensions of electrode recording area (w×h)
Multi-cellular 7.5 µm 62 µm
IC device type Inter-cellular 750 nm 6.2 µm
Intra-cellular 50-200 nm 1.7 µm
2.0 mm × 400 µm 200 µm × 40 µm 50 µm × 10 µm
Each device features 224 individual channel
Data Loading...
