A SIMPLE METHOD FOR FABRICATING MULTI-ROW MICROWIRE ARRAYS

Abstract

In the previous study (Tsai and Yen , 2003) we had described a simple method for the construction of microwire arrays consisting of evenly spaced insulated microwires in either horizontal or vertical orientations. In addition to the single row arrayed microwire electrode , two or more rows microwire arrays also used frequently (Ghazanfar et al., 2000 ; Shuler et al., 2001; Donoghue, 2002). In this letter, we describe a simple procedure to fabricate multi-row microwire arrays on the basis of the previous work (Tsai and Yen, 2003) but some key steps were improved. A two rows, separated by lmm , of 8 microwires array is described to illustrate the fabrication procedure . Each row of array consists of 8 Tefloninsulated microwires (AM system, Carlsborg,WA; #790700) which are aligned in single file , with an inter-electrode separation of 600700 u in for a total u horizontal span of 5 mm . The straightened microwires were cut into sixteen 3 -cm segments, and approximately 2 mm of insulation was removed from one end . Two slim bamboo sticks were fixed about 1-1.5 cm apart onto a piece of paper with sticky tape to serve as the fabrication jig. A razor blade was used to make notches in the bamboo sticks to mark the positions of the microwires . A small drop of epoxy glue was spread evenly on the surface of the sticks, and the straightened microwires were placed into these notches before the glue solidified . After all the microwires were placed in their proper positions, another drop of epoxy glue was applied to the sticks to cover the wires and fix a piece of PE-50 tube (od = 1 mm) on each stick as the spacer. When the epoxy glue had solidified , the free ends of the microwires were bent to the left . Another piece of microwire (about 10 mm) was glued to the arrayed wires transversely 2 mm from the distal stick. This transverse microwire will help to keep the arrayed