Iridium Oxide-Modified Silicon-Based Neural Interfaces for Deep Brain LFP Recording

Modifying the surface of neural electrodes can enhance their performance and reliability, improving their usability in the long term. We optimized the iridium oxide ($\text{IrO}_{\mathrm{X}}$) sputtered coating on silicon neural probes for deep brain local field potential (LFP) recording. We investigated the effects of varying oxygen flow rates on microelectrode structure, morphology, and electrochemical properties by preparing$\text{IrO}_{\mathrm{X}}$films via magnetron sputtering. The$\text{IrO}_{\mathrm{X}}$microelectrodes exhibit low impedance ($9.07 \mathrm{k} \Omega$at 1 kHz) and an exceptionally high charge storage capacity (CSC,$137 \text{mC} / \text{cm}^{2}$). These findings may contribute to the development of high-performance neural probes for deep brain LFP recording.