A Micro-Electrocorticography Platform and Deployment Strategies for Chronic BCI Applications

Over the past decade, electrocorticography (ECoG) has been used for a wide set of clinical and experimental applications. Recently, there have been efforts in the clinic to adapt traditional ECoG arrays to include smaller recording contacts and spacing. These devices, which may be collectively called micro-ECoG arrays, are loosely defined as intercranial devices that record brain electrical activity on the sub-millimeter scale. An extensible 3D-platform of thin film flexible micro-scale ECoG arrays appropriate for Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) application, as well as monitoring epileptic activity, is presented. The designs utilize flexible film electrodes to keep the array in place without applying significant pressure to the brain and to enable radial subcranial deployment of multiple electrodes from a single craniotomy. Deployment techniques were tested in non-human primates, and stimulus-evoked activity and spontaneous epileptic activity were recorded. Further tests in BCI and epilepsy applications will make the electrode platform ready for initial human testing.