Technology interfaces which can imitate the chemically specific signaling of nervous tissues are attractive for studying and developing therapies for neurological disorders. As the signaling in nervous tissue is highly spatiotemporal in nature, an interfacing technology should provide local neurotransmitter release in the millisecond range. To obtain such a speed, the neurotransmitters must be stored close to the release point, while avoiding substantial passive leakage. Here we theoretically investigate whether ionic bipolar diodes can be used for this purpose. We find that if a sufficiently large reverse potential is applied, the passive leakage can be suppressed to negligible levels due to the high local electric field within the bipolar diode. The influences of various design parameters are studied to determine the optimal design and operation. Finally, the delivery speed of the component is evaluated using time-dependent simulations, which show that the release of neurotransmitters to physiologically relevant concentrations can be achieved in less than 10 ms. Altogether, the results suggest that ionic bipolar diodes constitute a highly attractive technology for achieving high speed low leakage addressable delivery circuits for neural interfaces.

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探索离子双极二极管在化学神经界面中的潜力

可以模仿神经组织化学特异信号的技术接口对于研究和开发神经系统疾病的疗法具有吸引力。由于神经组织中的信号本质上是高度时空的，因此接口技术应提供毫秒范围内的局部神经递质释放。为了获得这样的速度，必须将神经递质存储在释放点附近，同时避免大量的被动泄漏。在这里，我们从理论上研究了离子双极二极管是否可以用于此目的。我们发现，如果施加足够大的反向电位，由于双极二极管内的高局部电场，可以将无源泄漏抑制到可以忽略的水平。研究了各种设计参数的影响，以确定最佳的设计和操作。最后，使用与时间有关的仿真评估了组件的传输速度，这表明神经递质释放到生理学相关浓度可以在不到10毫秒的时间内实现。总而言之，结果表明离子双极二极管构成了一种非常吸引人的技术，可用于实现神经接口的高速，低泄漏可寻址传输电路。