CMOS sensor array for bi-directional communication with electrically active cells

In this paper, we introduce a densely packed array of floating gate field effect transistors integrated on a silicon chip (FG-FET) used for recording electrical signals from electrogenic cells and stimulating them. The chip called CALIBUR was manufactured using a commercial 2 poly - 3 metal CMOS process. Further post processing for the optimization of the capacitive coupling between the cells by using thin film high-k materials and chip encapsulation were performed in house. The post-processing step includes the development of a lift-off process for the deposition of Pt as a base layer for the high-k materials and the actual deposition of the high-k materials.