Polymers 2012, 4(1), 656-673; doi:10.3390/polym4010656
Article

Fabrication and Packaging of Flexible Polymeric Microantennae for in Vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Magdalèna Couty 1,2,3 email, Marion Woytasik 1,2 email, Jean-Christophe Ginefri 2,4 email, Anne Rubin 1,2,5 email, Emile Martincic 1,2 email, Marie Poirier-Quinot 2,4 email, Luc Darrasse 2,4 email, Fawzi Boumezbeur 5 email, Franck Lethimonnier 5 email, Michael Tatoulian 3 email and Elisabeth Dufour-Gergam 1,2,* email
1 Univ. Paris Sud, Laboratoire IEF (Institut d’Electronique Fondamentale), UMR-8622, Bat. 220, F 91405 Orsay, France 2 CNRS (Centre National de Recherche Scientifique), F-91405 Orsay, France 3 LGPPTS (Laboratoire du Génie des Procédés Plasmas et Traitements de Surface), Chimie ParisTech/UPMC EA3492, 11 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, F-75005 Paris, France 4 Univ. Paris Sud, Laboratoire IR4M (Imagerie par Résonance Magnétique Médicale et Multi Modalités), UMR-8081, Bat. 220, F-91405, Orsay, France 5 I2BM (Institut d’Imagerie BioMédicale), Neurospin, CEA Saclay, Bat. 145, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 23 December 2011; in revised form: 14 January 2012 / Accepted: 15 February 2012 / Published: 27 February 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers for Bioimaging)
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Abstract: In this paper, we detail how microantennae dedicated to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can benefit from the advantages offered by polymer substrates, especially flexibility and dielectric properties. We present a monolithic and wireless design based on the transmission lines between conductor windings on both sides of a dielectric substrate and its fabrication process. This last one requires specific plasma treatments to improve polymer/metal adhesion. We have led a comparative study on the effects of the ageing time on the wettability and the metal adhesion to Kapton and Teflon surfaces. Correlation between wettability (water contact angle) and adhesion (tensile strength) has been established. Then, the use of PolyDiMethylSiloxane (PDMS) as biocompatible packaging material and the optimization of its thickness allows us to conserve suitable f0 and Q values in a conducting environment such as the biological tissues. These studies allow us to perform 7 Tesla in vivo MRI of the rat brain with a high spatial resolution of 100 x 100 x 200 µm3 and a Signal to Noise Ratio of 80.
Keywords: MRI; flexible microantenna; plasma treatment; PDMS

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Couty, M.; Woytasik, M.; Ginefri, J.-C.; Rubin, A.; Martincic, E.; Poirier-Quinot, M.; Darrasse, L.; Boumezbeur, F.; Lethimonnier, F.; Tatoulian, M.; Dufour-Gergam, E. Fabrication and Packaging of Flexible Polymeric Microantennae for in Vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Polymers 2012, 4, 656-673.

AMA Style

Couty M, Woytasik M, Ginefri J-C, Rubin A, Martincic E, Poirier-Quinot M, Darrasse L, Boumezbeur F, Lethimonnier F, Tatoulian M, Dufour-Gergam E. Fabrication and Packaging of Flexible Polymeric Microantennae for in Vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Polymers. 2012; 4(1):656-673.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Couty, Magdalèna; Woytasik, Marion; Ginefri, Jean-Christophe; Rubin, Anne; Martincic, Emile; Poirier-Quinot, Marie; Darrasse, Luc; Boumezbeur, Fawzi; Lethimonnier, Franck; Tatoulian, Michael; Dufour-Gergam, Elisabeth. 2012. "Fabrication and Packaging of Flexible Polymeric Microantennae for in Vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging." Polymers 4, no. 1: 656-673.

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