Switchless Multiplexing of Graphene Active Sensor Arrays for Brain Mapping.

ABSTRACT

Sensor arrays used to detect electrophysiological signals from the brain are paramount in neuroscience. However, the number of sensors that can be interfaced with macroscopic data acquisition systems currently limits their bandwidth. This bottleneck originates in the fact that, typically, sensors are addressed individually, requiring a connection for each of them. Herein, we present the concept of frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) of neural signals by graphene sensors. We demonstrate the high performance of graphene transistors as mixers to perform amplitude modulation (AM) of neural signals in situ, which is used to transmit multiple signals through a shared metal line. This technology eliminates the need for switches, remarkably simplifying the technical complexity of state-of-the-art multiplexed neural probes. Besides, the scalability of FDM graphene neural probes has been thoroughly evaluated and their sensitivity demonstrated in vivo. Using this technology, we envision a new generation of high-count conformal neural probes for high bandwidth brain machine interfaces.