A-Series Packages
An A-Series package mounts a silicon probe on a rigid printed-circuit interconnect that ends in a standard connector, for acute and intra-operative recording and stimulation, most often in mice and small animals.
The packaged probe is held in a micromanipulator on a stereotaxic frame and is driven and withdrawn as one rigid part.
The site count sets the connector: DIP-16 pins at 16 sites, one to three Samtec 40-pin connectors from 32 to 96 sites, and four Omnetics 32-pin connectors on a 30 mm cable at 128 (AC128). DIP-16 and Samtec 40 mate a SmartLink 16, 32 or 64 headstage directly, which digitizes at the probe and streams to XDAQ or Smartbox over micro-HDMI; an X-Series headstage connects through an X-Series connector adapter. Stimulation through the package uses an X-Series stim-record headstage on XDAQ. Optoelectrode builds (OA16LP, OA32LP, OA64LP, OAC128) add an optical fiber, and MRA16 is the MRI-conditional build.
Compatible silicon designs: 1 to 8 shanks, 2 to 15 mm, in linear, edge (including Buzsáki), polytrode and tetrode layouts, sites usually 177 µm².
Research use only.
Typical values
| Channels | 16 to 128 |
|---|---|
| Connector by site count | DIP-16 (16) · Samtec 40 ×1 to ×3 (32 to 96) · Omnetics 32 ×4 (128) |
| Headstage | SmartLink direct; X-Series through an adapter |
| Mounting | micromanipulator; no cable (30 mm cable on AC128) |
| Variants | optoelectrode (OA…), MRI-conditional (MRA16) |