Biosensors & Bioelectronics

Silicon Carbide Biotechnology for Robust Implantable Neural Interfaces

Abstract

Stephen E Saddow

Intracortical neural interfaces (INI) have made impressive progress in recent years but still display questionable long-term reliability. Here, we report on the development and characterization of highly resilient monolithic silicon carbide (SiC) neural devices. SiC is a physically robust, biocompatible, and chemically inert semiconductor. The device support was micromachined from p-type SiC with conductors created from n-type SiC, simultaneously providing electrical isolation through the resulting p–n junction. Electrodes possessed geometric surface area (GSA) varying from 496 to 500 K μm.