Development of Neural Prosthesis CuffElectrodes Embedded with Micro-Pressure Sensors

• Main Authors: Bing-Han Soung, 宋秉翰
• Other Authors: Ming-Shang Ju
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2002
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/h644dv

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 機械工程學系碩博士班 === 90 === Abstract Cuff electrode is an important component of motor neural prostheses. It can directly stimulate sensory and motor neurons or sense signals from nerve fibers. The goal of this thesis is to design and fabricate a spiral cuff electrode with embedded micro-pressure sensor by using micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technologies. Multi-channel cuff electrodes may enhance the selectivity of sensing nerve signals. For on-line health monitoring of nerve, capacitive pressure sensors are developed to detect the pressure on the interface between muscle and nerve. The spiral cuff electrode was employed for measuring signals of the sciatic nerve of New Zealand rabbits and feasibility of multi-channel of spiral cuff has been proven. Studies of animal model have shown that the developed cuff electrode is capable of detecting the electroneurogram (ENG) with less level of noise as compared with our previous results. The multi-channel ENG can be further decomposed to differentiate dorsi-flexion and plantar flexion of rabbit ankle. The dimension of spiral cuff electrodes was 25mm x 12.56mm. Twelve contact electrodes of a spiral cuff electrode were fabricated and the area of each contact electrode was 800 800 × µm. The capacitive pressure sensor was designed by the finite element analysis. The capacitive pressure sensor has a sensing electrode of 700 µm2, a dielectric layer with thickness of 4 µm, and a sensitivity of 1.044x10-3pF/mmHg-pF in the range of 0 to 100mmHg.