Fracture analysis of silicon microprobes designed for deep-brain stimulation

Recent progress in microtechnology has made room for novel applications in neural stimulation as well as for extending our knowledge on several malfunction of the nerval system such as tremor, epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease, which belong to the most serious medical issues in the population of developed countries. Integrated drug delivery function in neural implants can contribute advantageously to the long-term stability of the medical devices in brain tissue. In our work, a hollow silicon microprobe developed for deep-brain application is proposed and tested. The fabrication is based on a novel micromachining technique utilising conventional MEMS technology and integrating both the probe shaft and microchannel system into the same substrate. The integrated microchannels have major influence on the failure properties of the probe, therefore the feasibility of the realised microstructures for deep-brain stimulation is characterised by experimental method and by modeling focusing on the change in mechanical response to axial loading.

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► Study of the mechanical response of hollow silicon microprobes to axial loading.
► Feasibility study for deep-brain applications.
► Integration of drug delivery system into neural probes.