Stable deposition and patterning of metal layers on the PDMS substrate and characterization for the development of the flexible and implantable micro electrode

PDMS(polydimethylsiloxane) is a flexible and biocompatible material and is widely used in bio- or medical-related fields. Recently, PDMS has been used as a substrate of implantable electrodes but has exhibited limits in stable metal layer deposition and patterning. In this paper, we have developed processes for both the stable metallization of PDMS surface and the selective patterning of conductive elements. The surface treatment via the oxygen plasma ions significantly affects the adhesion of metal layers to the PDMS surface, while the other factors exhibited no significant relations. On the basis of our procedure resulted in the effective production of the stable and fine (line width: 20 mu m) electrode patterns on the PDMS substrate. Finally, we fabricated PDMS-based flexible and implantable micro electrode for the subretinal prosthesis.