Brain Monitoring Array Helps Implants Cut the Cord

R&D DIGEST

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University have introduced a telemetric electrode array system (TEAS) project aimed at developing and embedding a 3-D intracortical electrode array with electronic brain implants. The system would enable wireless signal acquisition, processing, and communication of those implants. Using wireless technology could help reduce the risk of infections or electrical artifacts caused by cable movement in traditional implants.

Ideally, the skull would encapsulate the entire implant, using the minimum hardware and software required to communicate data to an external computer. The goal, said the researchers in a white paper, is to simplify the system by adopting a brain-machine interface concept rather than a total-implant concept. Too much functionality in the implant itself is “a step backward,” the researchers say, because it introduces needlessly-complicated functions, making services and upgrades more difficult.
The entire system comprises a 3-D electrode array that is connected to an electronic block by a flexible interconnection cable. The structure was created through wire electrical-discharge machining (EDM). Researchers deliberately kept the design simple, using through-hole assembly; they predict that a flip chip should be used as feature sizes decrease. As the number of electrodes within the same array increases, the diameter of the needle electrodes will need to decrease to minimize the insertion force and damage to the brain. They conclude that other fabrication techniques will eventually be required as well as improvement in wireless communication.