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Updated: Sep 30, 2026
A Method for Systematic Electrochemical and Electrophysiological Evaluation of Neural Recording Electrodes
Published on: March 3, 2014
Instrumentation to evaluate neural signal recording properties of micromachined microelectrodes inserted in
D J Banks1, W Balachandran, P R Richards
1Centre for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
Abstract:
The design and characterization of instrumentation for application in evaluating the neural signal recording properties of probe-type microelectrodes, micromachined from silicon, are reported. Key aspects include the close matching of gain and frequency response between channels (better than 1%), flexibility in signal conditioning options, the ability to operate with a wide range of (microelectrode) recording site dimensions (4 microm x 4 micrm to 50 microm x 50 microm), and hence impedances, and the facility to monitor and store instrumentation settings on computer along with the recorded signals. Noise levels ranged from 3.7 microV rms for a 50 microm site, to 11.7 microV rms for a microm site, measured in saline. Close matching between channels was required to enable comparisons between different sites and different probes to be made with confidence; however, the instrumentation could be readily applied to less demanding applications.
