TY - GEN
T1 - Individually-addressable parylene microneedle arrays with integrated microchannels for retinal prosthesis study
AU - Tu, H.
AU - Li, Y.
AU - Finlayson, P.
AU - Iezzi, R.
AU - Xu, Y.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Retinal prostheses promise to provide artificial vision to the blind. Retinal implant based on electrical stimulation has limitations such as electrode corrosion, water hydrolysis, and generation of toxic radicals due to the large stimulation current. The more naturalistic chemical stimulation is able to effectively address these limitations of electrical stimulation. This paper reports the development of out-of-plane parylene microneedle arrays that can be individually addressed by integrated microchannels. The individually-addressable microneedle arrays were fabricated using silicon molds formed by DRIE, isotropic silicon etching of XeF2, and the conformal coating of parylene. Both rigid and flexible devices were developed. These devices enable the delivery of chemicals with controlled temporal and spatial patterns and allow us to study neurotransmitter-based retinal prostheses.
AB - Retinal prostheses promise to provide artificial vision to the blind. Retinal implant based on electrical stimulation has limitations such as electrode corrosion, water hydrolysis, and generation of toxic radicals due to the large stimulation current. The more naturalistic chemical stimulation is able to effectively address these limitations of electrical stimulation. This paper reports the development of out-of-plane parylene microneedle arrays that can be individually addressed by integrated microchannels. The individually-addressable microneedle arrays were fabricated using silicon molds formed by DRIE, isotropic silicon etching of XeF2, and the conformal coating of parylene. Both rigid and flexible devices were developed. These devices enable the delivery of chemicals with controlled temporal and spatial patterns and allow us to study neurotransmitter-based retinal prostheses.
KW - Individually-addressable
KW - Parylene Microneedle
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80052133140&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=80052133140&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TRANSDUCERS.2011.5969399
DO - 10.1109/TRANSDUCERS.2011.5969399
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:80052133140
SN - 9781457701573
T3 - 2011 16th International Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, TRANSDUCERS'11
SP - 1224
EP - 1227
BT - 2011 16th International Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, TRANSDUCERS'11
T2 - 2011 16th International Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, TRANSDUCERS'11
Y2 - 5 June 2011 through 9 June 2011
ER -