Interfacing Biomolecules, Cells and Tissues with Nanowire-based Electrical Devices - Applications of Electrochemistry and Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine - page 80

Figure 4. (A) NW/neuron interfaces. Schematic of interconnected neuron motif and
SEM image of fixed neurons exhibiting a neural network where multiple neurites
are interfaced with NW devices (red arrows). Inset: Zoom depicting an axon (de-
noted by yellow dotted lines) guided between source and drain electrodes across a
NWFET (highlighted by blue arrow). (B) (left) Optical image of a cortical neuron
aligned across a NWFET; (inset) High resolution image of region where axon (red
arrow) crosses a NW (yellow arrow). (right) red trace- Intracellular potential of an
aligned cortex neuron (after 6 days in culture) during stimulation with a 500 msec
long current injection step of 0.1 nA; black trace- time-correlated signal from axon
measured using a p-type NWFET.
tion with the cell body, creating small hybrid junctions with a typi-
cal junction area of 0.01-0.02 μm 2 which is at least two orders of
magnitude smaller than microfabricated electrodes and planar
FETs. Neuron cell growth was guided with respect to the device
element by using chemically adhesive and repealing factors of
poly-D-lysine and fluorosilane, respectively, Fig. 4A . Action po-