Novel method for a flexible double-sided microelectrode fabrication process

Flexible devices with integrated micro electrodes are widely used for neuronal as well as myogenic stimulation and recording applications. One main intention by using micro electrodes is the ability of placing an appropriate amount of electrodes on the active sites. With an increasing number of single electrodes the selectivity for signal acquirement and analysis is significantly improved. The further advantage of small and elastic structures inside the biological tissue is the perfect fit. This lead to lower traumatisation of the nerve and muscle fibres during and after acute and chronically surgery. Different designed and structured flexible micro electrodes have been developed at the IBMT based on polyimide as substrate material over the last years including cuff, intrafascicular and shaft electrodes. All these systems are generally built up as single sided devices which reduce the possible electrode site half the area. Especially for shaft and intrafascicular applications having double sided electrode arrangement would increase the selectivity enormous. So areas on both sides can be monitored simultaneously. Recent developments of double sided flexible electrode systems lead to promising results especially for varied signal recording. Though these developments revealed some challenges in the field of micromachining including low yield rates. In this work we describe a new technical approach to develop double sided flexible micro electrode systems with a reproducible high yield rate. Prototypes of intrafascicular and intramuscular electrode systems have been developed and investigated by the means of electrochemical characterisation and mechanical behaviour. Additional investigations have been performed with scanning electron microscopy. We also give an outlook to future in vitro and in vivo experiments to investigate the application performance of the developed systems