Sputtered porous Pt for wafer-scale manufacture of low-impedance flexible microelectrodes

Recording electrical activity from individual cells in vivo is a key technology for basic neuroscience and has growing clinical applications. To maximize the number of independent recording channels as well as the longevity, and quality of these recordings, researchers often turn to small and flexible electrodes that minimize tissue damage and can isolate signals from individual neurons. One challenge when creating these small electrodes, however, is to maintain a low interfacial impedance by applying a surface coating that is stable in tissue and does not significantly complicate the fabrication process.

Here we use a high-pressure Pt sputtering process to create low-impedance electrodes at the wafer scale using standard microfabrication equipment.

We find that direct-sputtered Pt provides a reliable and well-controlled porous coating that reduces the electrode impedance by 5-9 fold compared to flat Pt and is compatible with the microfabrication technologies used to create flexible electrodes. These porous Pt electrodes show reduced thermal noise that matches theoretical predictions. In addition, we show that these electrodes can be implanted into rat cortex, record single unit activity, and be removed all without disrupting the integrity of the coating. We also demonstrate that the shape of the electrode (in addition to the surface area) has a significant effect on the electrode impedance when the feature sizes are on the order of tens of microns.

Overall, porous Pt represents a promising method for manufacturing low-impedance electrodes that can be seamlessly integrated into existing processes for producing flexible neural probes.