Neuron-Gated Silicon Nanowire Field Effect Transistors to Follow Single Spike Propagation within Neuronal Network

Silicon nanowire field effect transistors (SiNW-FETs) provide a local probe for sensing neuronal activity at the subcellular scale, thanks to their nanometer size and ultrahigh sensitivity. The combination with micropatterning or microfluidic techniques to build model neurons networks above SiNW arrays could allow monitoring of spike propagation and tailor specific stimulations, being useful to investigate network communications at multiple scales, such as plasticity or computing processes. This versatile device could be useful in many research areas, including diagnosis, prosthesis, and health security. Herein, SiNW-based arrays enable to record electrical signals from matured neurons, such as local field potential and unitary spike within ex vivo preparations and hippocampal neurons grown on chip respectively. Furthermore, the ability to guide neurites above the sensor array during 3 weeks of cultures is demonstrated and the propagation of spikes along cells is followed. The SiNW-FETs are obtained by a top-down approach with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, showing the possibility to implement them at the manufacturing level. These results confirm further the potentiality of the approach to follow spike propagation over large distances and at precise locations along neuronal cells, by providing a multiscale addressing at the nano and mesoscales.