UC Irvine

Micro technology has become central to many applications of modern biomedical engineering. As scientists seek to investigate biological systems at the micro and nano level, there has been an increased need for manufacturing techniques capable of producing complex microscale components. Currently, biomedical engineers utilize microfabrication techniques based on semiconductor manufacturing to fabricate microdevices. While these techniques offer microscale resolution, high reproducibility, and batch fabrication, they suffer from narrow material selection, poor integration, and offer limited geometrical complexity. Hybrid microfabrication addresses these limitations by combining modern manufacturing techniques to enable highly integrated devices with complex three-dimensional topologies. In the present study, microelectrode arrays and components were produced using hybrid microfabrication techniques in order to explore the ability to fabricate complex integrated microdevices from a wide range of materials using modern manufacturing techniques. 32-channel recording electrodes were produced using precision tool-based micromachining, microwire assembly, molding, sacrificial release, rotational lithography, and electrodeposition. Optogenetic electrodes were fabricated using selective etching, through-fiber photolithography, micromolding, embossing, and glass sintering. Finally, planar lithographic techniques were used to create flexible thin-film electrodes. Through a combination of modern manufacturing techniques it was shown that complex microstructures could be produced from a wide range of materials with improved integration.