Silicon nanowires as contact between the cell membrane and CMOS circuits

We describe an innovative approach to sensing bioelectric signals at high space-time resolution with low invasiveness based on growing small Silicon Nano Wires (SiNW) at low-temperature (200 °C). The resulting SiNWs are compatible with ICs, allowing on-site amplification of bioelectric signals. We report our preliminary results showing biocompatibility and neutrality of SiNWs used as seeding substrate for cells in culture. With this technology, we aim to produce a compact device allowing on-site, synched and high signal/noise recordings of a large amounts of biological signals from networks of excitable cells (e.g. neurons) or distinct subdomains of the cell membrane, thus providing super-resolved descriptions of the propagation of electric waveforms within living cells and networks.