A Highly Compliant Serpentine Shaped Polyimide Interconnect for Front-End Strain Relief in Chronic Neural Implants

While the signal quality of recording neural electrodes is observed to degrade over time, the degradation mechanisms are complex and less easily observable. Recording microelectrodes failures are attributed to different biological factors such as tissue encapsulation, immune response, and disruption of blood-brain barrier (BBB) and non-biological factors such as strain due to micromotion, insulation delamination, corrosion, and surface roughness on the recording site (1–4). Strain due to brain micromotion is considered to be one of the important abiotic factors contributing to the failure of the neural implants. To reduce the forces exerted by the electrode on the brain, a high compliance 2D serpentine shaped electrode cable was designed, simulated, and measured using polyimide as the substrate material. Serpentine electrode cables were fabricated using MEMS microfabrication techniques, and the prototypes were subjected to load tests to experimentally measure the compliance. The compliance of the serpentine cable was numerically modeled and quantitatively measured to be up to 10 times higher than the compliance of a straight cable of same dimensions and material.