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Scholvin, J., Kinney, J. P., Bernstein, J. G., Moore-Kochlacs, C., Kopell, N., Fonstad, C.G., Boyden, E. S. (2016) Close-Packed Silicon Microelectrodes for Scalable Spatially Oversampled Neural Recording, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 63(1):120-30.
Neural recording electrodes are important tools for understanding neural codes and brain dynamics. Neural electrodes that are close-packed, such as in tetrodes, enable spatial oversampling of neural activity, which facilitates data analysis. Here we present the design and implementation of close-packed silicon microelectrodes, to enable spatially oversampled recording of neural activity in a scalable fashion. Methods: Our probes are fabricated in a hybrid lithography process, resulting in a dense array of recording sites connected to submicron dimension wiring. Results: We demonstrate an implementation of a probe comprising 1000 electrode pads, each 9 x 9 µm, at a pitch of 11 µm. We introduce design automation and packaging methods that allow us to readily create a large variety of different designs. Significance: We perform neural recordings with such probes in the live mammalian brain that illustrate the spatial oversampling potential of closely packed electrode sites.