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Ferroelectric microelectrodes for biomedical applications (FeMEA)

Electronics in the human body can be of great benefit to those affected by health restrictions (e.g. neuroimplants). The problem is that electrodes (in particular) corrode under current flow and tissue can also be damaged. For this reason, electrodes that function without direct current flow across the interface would be of great value for biomedicine.

Aims and procedure
The aim is to research (quasi) DC-less electrodes that do not exhibit the problems mentioned above. The way to achieve this is through a material innovation, namely the use of ferroelectric materials. These are themselves non-conductive, but their ferroelectric properties enable them to generate an electrical signal in the tissue by reversing the polarity, but also to read it out. By using micro-structured electrode arrays (‘neurochips’), a bidirectional, degradation-free interface could be created that has a high spatial resolution and could be used for retinal implants, for example.

Innovations and prospects
Current neurochips, which are based on capacitive electrodes (coated with a dielectric) and could therefore also function without degradation, have a stimulation efficiency that is clearly too low. Ferroelectrics, on the other hand, used to have the problem that they were not compatible with the industrial CMOS process, which meant that it was not possible to manufacture or coat microelectrodes. The hafnium- and zirconium oxide-based materials researched in the project are CMOS-compatible and therefore enable the production of such ferroelectric microelectrodes for the first time and thus novel applications in medicine, e.g. neuroimplants and innovative sensors.

Sponsor
BMBF
Promoter
VDI Technologiezentrum GmbH
Funding Number
13XP5238
Duration
01.02.2025 to 31.01.2030
Maturity Level
Research
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Contact

Dr.

Maximilian Becker

+49 761 887865-739 Contact

Competences

  • Biosensors in CMOS Technology
  • Ferroelectric Microelectrodes
  • Bioelectronics
  • Materials Science
  • Solid State Physics