Claims
- 1. An electrode army microchip for receiving biological electrical signals comprising:
- a plurality of substantially planar metal regions supported on a surface of a substrate, insulating material covering said plurality of metal regions and said surface,
- cuts in said insulating material, at least one of said cuts having a width of at least one micron, said cuts arranged to expose portions of said metal regions, whereby each exposed portion forms a substantially planar electrode for engagement with a biological material, and
- regions of metal electrically connected to said electrodes to form electrical connections from said electrodes to wire bonding or probe sites on a surface of said microchip or to integrated circuitry within said microchip, whereby biological electrical signals from said biological material detectable at said electrodes are transmitted to said wire bonding or probe sites or to said integrated circuitry.
- 2. A CMOS electrode array microchip for receiving biological electrical signals comprising:
- a pattern of adjacently arranged and substantially planar metal regions on a surface of a substrate, adjacent regions separated by a distance,
- insulating material covering said pattern of metal regions and said surface,
- a plurality of cuts in said insulating material, said cuts arranged to expose portions of said metal regions, whereby each exposed portion forms a substantially planar electrode for engagement with a biological material, at least one cut of said plurality of cuts having a width of three microns, said width at least equal to the distance between two adjacent metal regions, and
- regions of metal electrically connected to said electrodes to form electrical connections from said electrodes to wire bonding or probe sites on a surface of said microchip or to integrated circuitry within said microchip, whereby biological electrical signals from said biological material detectable at said electrodes are transmitted to said wire bonding or probe sites or to said integrated circuitry.
- 3. The microchip of claims 1 or 2 wherein said insulating material is comprised of silicon dioxide.
- 4. The microchip of claims 1 or 2 wherein said substrate is comprised of silicon.
- 5. The microchip of claims 1 or 2 wherein said microchip comprises integrated circuitry.
- 6. The microchip of claim 5 wherein said integrated circuitry provides multiplexing means for electrical signals between the electrodes and wire bonding or probe pads.
- 7. The microchip of claims 1 or 2 attached to a support, whereby said support permits manual manipulation of said microchip.
- 8. The microchip of claim 7 further comprising means for electrically connecting said wire bonding or probe sites or said integrated circuitry of said microchip to a display or recording device, whereby said electrical signals are displayed or recorded.
- 9. The microchip of claims 1 or 3 further comprising a conducting material deposited on each said electrode, whereby the resulting electrode is made to extend to the surface or above the surface of said microchip.
- 10. The microchip of claim 9 wherein said conducting material is gold, deposited to form a point on each said electrode.
- 11. The microchip of claim 9 further comprising a post fabrication line insulating coating over the surface of said microchip, said coating being removed over a portion of each extended electrode, whereby effective electrode surface area is reduced.
- 12. The microchip of clam 9 wherein said-conducting material is platinum black electrochemically deposited on each said electrode, whereby effective electrode surface area is increased.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of copending application Ser. No. 07/809,089, filed on Dec. 10, 1991, now abandoned, which is a division of Ser. No. 07/535,889, filed on Jun. 8, 1990.
Government Interests
This invention was made with government support under grant 2S07RR0743-25, awarded by the National Institutes of Health. The government has certain rights in the invention.
US Referenced Citations (10)
Divisions (1)
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535889 |
Jun 1990 |
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Continuations (1)
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809089 |
Dec 1991 |
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