Silk-Enabled Foldable and Conformal Neural Interface with In-Plane Shielding for High-Quality Electrophysiological Recordings

This paper reports a flexible, foldable and conformal neural interface with in-plane shielding fabricated by MEMS process. Based on the tailored planar pattern derived from hemisphere, it can conformally attach to curved surfaces with featured radiuses of typical intracranial space-occupying tumors or brain nuclei. Introducing the controlled degradable silk fibroin as the temporary immobilization material, it can be temporarily fixed into ball shape to minimize implantation trauma during surgery, and conformally cover the curved surface after silk dissolved by tissue fluids, which makes it suitable for electrophysiological monitoring of deep brain regions. Additionally, coplanar metal shielding layer design reduces the interference of mechanical artifacts and power frequency noises, which significantly improves the quality of recorded signals.