Hybrid Fabrication Method for Microfluidic Channels Within a Polymer Nanocomposite for Neural Interfacing Applications
- Resource Type
- Conference
- Authors
- Kim, Youjoung; Mueller, Natalie; Schwartzman, William; Aluri, Varoon; Herried, Amanda; Capadona, Jeffrey R.; Hess-Dunning, Allison
- Source
- 2021 21st International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (Transducers) SSolid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (Transducers), 2021 21st International Conference on. :900-903 Jun, 2021
- Subject
- Bioengineering
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Fields, Waves and Electromagnetics
Photonics and Electrooptics
Power, Energy and Industry Applications
Robotics and Control Systems
Fabrication
Micromechanical devices
Transducers
Microscopy
Films
Sensors
Polymers
Neural probe
microfabrication
microfluidic channel
polymer nanocomposite
molding
embossing
- Language
- ISSN
- 2167-0021
Microfluidic intracortical neural probes were developed using a mechanically-adaptive polymer nanocomposite. Three different microfluidic channel fabrication methods were explored: Emboss-only, Mold-only, and a hybrid Mold/Emboss method. Films produced from each method were inspected and characterized using microscopy and profilometry. Further, we studied the ability of each approach to produce probes with functional microfluidic channels. The results indicate that the hybrid Mold/Emboss method had the highest fidelity transfer of the channel pattern to the polymer nanocomposite and was most successful in producing functional microfluidic probes. This process will help to increase the functionality and long-term viability and reliability of NC neural probes.