Parylene-based encapsulated fluid MEMS sensors.
A new class of transducers based on a Parylene C encapsulated fluid element are introduced. These versatile units have thus far been explored as impedance-based contact sensors and electrolysis-based actuators for fine positioning of neural recording electrodes. These sensors may be fabricated on thin, flexible substrates which permits application on non-planar or three dimensional surfaces. Another interesting modality is the coupling of individual mechanically-responsive, impedance-based sensing elements distributed over a surface but interconnected through microfluidic channel networks in a manner that emulates mechanotransduction in natural biological systems. These fluidic elements offer interesting new possibilities in neural prosthetics.
Meng
Ellis
E
Department of Biomedical and Electrical Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1111, USA. ellis.meng@usc.edu
Gutierrez
Christian
C
D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004566:Electrodes; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D055617:Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014159:Transducers; D014992:Xylenes / Q000737:chemistry*
D011108:Polymers; D014992:Xylenes; C011055:parylene