Monolithic, biocompatible feedthrough for hermetically sealed electronics and methods of manufacture

Methods of manufacturing a biocompatible, hermetic feedthrough monolithically integrated with a biocompatible ribbon cable are described, as well as the resulting devices themselves. The hermetic feedthrough is created by placing glass over a mold of doped silicon or other material with a higher melting temperature than the glass and heating it to reflow the glass into the mold. The glass is then ground or otherwise removed to reveal a flat surface, and tiny pillars that were in the mold are isolated in the glass to form electrically conductive vias. The flat surface is used to cast a polymer and build up a ribbon cable, photolithographically or otherwise, that is monolithically attached to the vias.

The abstract as published by the patent office, from US2021013051A1. It describes the invention; it is not a statement of what is protected.

• Interface and electrodes

  Electrodes and arrays

• Implant electronics

  Chips and on-implant computing

• Packaging

  Packaging and hermeticity · Connectors and feedthroughs

• Stimulation

  Stimulation

What the filing appears to be about, read by published rules from its title, abstract and classification codes (A61N1/0531, A61N1/3605, A61N1/3754, A61N1/3758, B81B2201/036). 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.

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.

Packaging

Body fluid destroys unprotected electronics. An implant meant to last has to stay sealed for years while passing every channel through its wall. The problem behind it: a seal that lasts as long as the patient needs it, at a size that leaves room for the channels.

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 StatesUS2021013051A114 Jan 2021US11107703B231 Aug 2021 · grant
• International (PCT)a route to several countries, not a countryWO2021011298A121 Jan 2021
• South KoreaKR20220035406A22 Mar 2022
• European Patent Officea route to several countries, not a countryEP3997045A118 May 2022EP3997045A426 Oct 2022EP3997045B116 Apr 2025 · grant
• JapanJP2022540836A20 Sep 2022JP7590402B226 Nov 2024 · grant

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 US2021013051A1: assignment; owner named: NEURALINK CORP., CALIFORNIA.
4. 14 Jan 2021First publicationUS2021013051A1, United States.
5. 31 Aug 2021Grant publishedUS11107703B2, United States.
6. 2 Jul 2024Office recordJapan, on JP2022540836A: notification of reasons for refusal.
7. 26 Nov 2024Grant publishedJP7590402B2, Japan.
8. 16 Apr 2025Grant publishedEP3997045B1, European Patent Office.
9. 26 Aug 2026Office recordEuropean Patent Office, on EP3997045A1: lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo] (AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, CZ, DK, EE, ES, FI, GR, HR, IE, IS, IT, LT, LU, LV, MC, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SK, SM, TR).

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: US2021013051A1 in Espacenet
• Counted as a BCI patent family: classified A61N1/0531 (brain cortex electrodes); filed by Neuralink Corp., 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