Sandwich assembly scheme for thin film electrode array and integrated circuits on both sides of printed circuit board (PCB) and method of manufacture

Disclosed is a sandwich assembly containing a thin film electrode array for use with high density electrodes. To minimize the volume required by the associated electronics, the electrode array and integrated circuits are sandwiched over a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), which may have other integrated circuits on an opposite side. Among other things, the disclosed apparatus, system, and method improve over previous systems by providing holes and vias that facilitate communication between a custom chip above the PCB and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) below. The thin film electrode array can be fastened by bucking a pillar of stacked gold or other metal balls to rivet the thin film flex circuit. The system can include a thin film array having embedded wire traces and holes, a PCB having vias aligned with the holes, chips including an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) sandwiching the thin film, and solder connections from the chips through the holes to the vias.

The abstract as published by the patent office, from US2021008364A1. It describes the invention; it is not a statement of what is protected.

• Interface and electrodes

  Electrodes and arrays

• Signal acquisition

  Signal acquisition

• Implant electronics

  Implant electronics · Chips and on-implant computing

• Packaging

  Connectors and feedthroughs

What the filing appears to be about, read by published rules from its title, abstract and classification codes (A61B2562/046, A61B2562/125, A61B2562/164, A61B2562/166, A61B2562/222). The claims define what a patent protects, and they are not read here.

Interface and electrodes

Everything downstream works with what the contacts pick up. Their number, size and distance from the neurons set the ceiling on the signal. The problem behind it: more contacts, closer to neurons, that still record after years in tissue that reacts to them.

Signal acquisition

Neural signals are microvolts. They have to be amplified and digitised on many channels at once, inside a power budget that must not warm the tissue. The problem behind it: low noise on hundreds or thousands of channels at milliwatts.

Implant electronics

An implant has room for very little, so functions that fill a rack in the laboratory have to fit on a chip. The problem behind it: fitting channel count, computing and safety functions into a volume and a heat budget the body accepts.

Why the layer matters to the field, not a judgement of this filing. A patent family shows that protection was sought. It does not show that the technology was built, is used in a product, or works in people. The whole stack

One invention, published 9 times in 5 offices. Each publication opens in Espacenet.

• United StatesUS2021008364A114 Jan 2021US11444056B213 Sep 2022 · grant
• International (PCT)a route to several countries, not a countryWO2021011286A121 Jan 2021
• South KoreaKR20220036952A23 Mar 2022
• European Patent Officea route to several countries, not a countryEP3996802A118 May 2022EP3996802A425 Oct 2023EP3996802B122 Apr 2026 · grantEP3996802C022 Apr 2026
• JapanJP2022541146A22 Sep 2022

1. 12 Jul 2019First filingEarliest priority, at United States. The family is counted in this year.
2. 9 Jul 2020ApplicationsFiled at United States, International (PCT), South Korea, European Patent Office, Japan.
3. 9 Jul 2020Owner recordedUnited States, on US2021008364A1: assignment; owner named: NEURALINK CORP., CALIFORNIA.
4. 14 Jan 2021First publicationUS2021008364A1, United States.
5. 13 Sep 2022Grant publishedUS11444056B2, United States.
6. 3 Dec 2024Office recordJapan, on JP2022541146A: decision of refusal.
7. 22 Apr 2026Grant publishedEP3996802B1, European Patent Office.
8. 22 Sep 2026Office recordEuropean Patent Office, on EP3996802A1: lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo] (PL).

Dates as the offices published them. Office records are in the offices' own words and are a selection: refusals, lapses and withdrawals, and records that name an owner. Each concerns one member of the family, not the family as a whole, and another member in the same office may stand. Whether a patent is in force today is not assessed.

Organisation

Neuralink · 31 families identified

• Bibliographic data, family members and office records: European Patent Office, Open Patent Services (the DOCDB and INPADOC databases), read 7 Oct 2026.
• The record itself, with its claims and description: US2021008364A1 in Espacenet
• Counted as a BCI patent family: classified G06F3/015, without a brain signal in the text; filed by 뉴럴링크 코포레이션, an organisation already in the graph; a hardware layer of the stack, filed by a company that builds interfaces; cites a family already accepted. How families are found and judged