Flex circuits on Nitinol thin film for minimal invasive stimulation and ablation applications

The demand for stimulation and ablation devices that can be applied minimal invasively is growing and new treatments are under development. However, their increasing number of independent channels, suitable for transmitting high voltages and currents, challenges fabrication technologies, in particular regarding miniaturization, reliability and time effective assembly. In this talk, generic devices for above mentioned purposes, fabricated by microsystem technology processes, are presented and characterized. A rigid but flexible scaffold from microstructured Nitinol thin film ensures mechanical integrity and crimpability. On top of this scaffold, Au traces with 20µm spacing are embedded into a photosensitive polyimide (PI) layer. Thus, high channels numbers with electrical breakdown voltages of several hundred volts can be achieved on devices still being crimpable to small catheter sizes. The results presented in this talk show that this fabrication technology is able to produce highly integrated, self-expandable and miniaturized multifunctional catheter components and is a technology for future ablation treatments.