Evaluation methods for long-term reliability of polymer-based implantable biomedical devices

Long-term reliability of implantable biomedical devices is a critical issue for their practical usefulness and successful translation into clinical application. Reliability is particularly of great concern for recently demonstrated devices based on new materials typically relying on polymeric thin films and microfabrication process. While reliability testing protocol has been well-established for traditional metallic packages, common evaluation methods for polymer-based microdevices has yet to be agreed upon, even though various testing methods have been proposed. This article is aiming to summarize the evaluation methods on long-term reliability of emerging biomedical implants based on polymeric thin-films in terms of their theories and implementation with specific focus on difference from the traditional metallic packages.