• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.29-35
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• 2017

In this paper, we investigated a manufacturing process of metal micro-wire interconnection on submillimeter diameter catheter. Over the years, flexible electronic researches have focused on flexible plane polymer substrate and micro electrode manufacturing on its surface. However, a curved polymer substrate, such as catheter, is very important for medical application. Among many catheters, importance of submillimeter diameter steerable catheter is increasing to resolve the several limitations of neurosurgery. Steering actuators have been researched for realizing the steerable catheter, but there is no research about practical wiring for driving these actuators. Therefore we developed a new manufacturing process for metal micro-wire interconnection on submillimeter diameter catheter. We designed custom jigs for alignment of the metal micro-wires on the submillimeter diameter catheter. An UV curing system and commercial products were used to reduce the manufacturing time and cost; Au micro-wire, UV curable epoxy, UV lamp, and submillimeter diameter catheter. The assembled catheter was characterized by using an optical microscope, a resistance meter, and a universal testing machine.