A 16-channel Si probe monolithically integrated with CMOS chips for neural recording

•A monolithic integration between the electrodes and circuits in a single probe was achieved;.•The circuit architecture and its optimization with respect to noise, size and power consumption was proposed;.•Developing a fab-compatible post-CMOS process to prepare the shank of neural probe;. Multi-channel neural electrodes as a crucial means are of great significance for information exchange between the brain and computers. Herein, we present a 16-channel Si-based active neural probe system that achieves a monolithic integration between the electrodes and circuits in a single probe, making it a standalone integrated electrophysiology recording system. The ASIC prepared on a base (2×2mm2) is a 16-channel analog frontend (AFE) for neural recording, and each channel has a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a bandpass filter (BPF), a buffer and a current bias circuit. The 258 neural signal recording electrodes (22×24μm2) are densely packed on a 50 μm thick, 100 μm wide, and 3 mm long shank. The ASIC of neural probe, internal interconnecting wires are all implemented in commercial SMIC 0.18 μm CMOS technology. The neural probe system achieves a 3.6 μVrms input-referred noise (IRN) in a bandwidth of 1.1Hz-10 kHz, 70.8 μW power consumption, 0.0785 mm2 area per channel, as well as an AFE gain of 58.1 dB Furthermore, the impedances of the Au electrodes can be obtained as 0.5–2.1 MΩ at a frequency of 1 kHz. The functionality of a 16-channel silicon-based neural probe is validated in an in-vivo experiment on lab rats.