Fabrication and characterization of implantable and flexible nerve cuff electrodes with Pt, Ir and IrOx films deposited by RF sputtering

Abstract

This paper presents the fabrication and characterization of implantable and flexible nerve cuff electrodes for neural interfaces using the conventional BioMEMS technique. In order to fabricate a flexible nerve electrode, polyimide (PI) was chosen as the substrate material. Then, nerve electrodes were thermally re-formed in a cuff shape so as to increase the area in which the charges were transferred to the nerve. Platinum (Pt), iridium (Ir) and iridium oxide (IrOx) films, which were to serve as conducting materials for the nerve electrodes, were deposited at different working pressures by RF magnetron sputtering. The electrochemical properties of the deposited films were characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The charge delivery capacities of the films were recorded and calculated by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The deposited films of Pt, Ir and IrOx have strong differences in electrochemical properties, which depend on the working pressure of sputter. Each film deposited at 30 mTorr of working pressure shows the highest value of charge delivery capacity (CDC). For the IrOx films, the electrochemical properties were strongly affected by the working pressure as well as the Ar:O-2 gas ratio. The IrOx film deposited with an Ar:O-2 gas ratio of 8:1 showed the highest CDC of 59.5 mC cm(-2), which was about five times higher than that of films deposited with a 1:1 gas ratio.