Planar Multielectrode Array Coupled Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Image Sensor for In vitro Electrophysiology

A multielectrode array coupled complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor (MARC sensor) was developed for an in vitro electrophysiology experiment. The sensor chip was fabricated by a standard CMOS process, and has a 64 microelectrode array and a 180 x 180 photodiode pixel array. The size of an on-chip microelectrode is 60 x 60 mu m(2) and the pixel size is 7.5 x 7.5 mu m(2). In addition, Pt black was fabricated on microelectrodes to obtain stimulation electrodes. The imaging function was demonstrated by the anatomical observation of a mouse hippocampal slice, and the electrical recording function was also demonstrated by monitoring the extracellular field potentials of the brain slice using on-chip microelectrodes. The MARC sensor is compatible with existing in vitro multichannel recording systems. This is the first report supporting our concept that microelectrode arrays and large-sized optical systems can be integrated onto single large-scale integration (LSI) architecture. (C) 2011 The Japan Society of Applied Physics