Shallowest Site
Hardware
The shallowest site is the position of the electrode site nearest the base of the shank, measured from the tip in millimetres; when the probe is inserted to a planned depth, it is the shallowest point the design records from.
With the deepest site it brackets the depth range the design covers; the difference between the two is the site span.
It matters at the surface. Sites above the target record tissue nobody asked about and spend channels doing it, and a site that sits in the craniotomy or above the pia records nothing useful at all. A design whose sites run to the tip — the shallowest site 50 µm from it, as on most linear layouts — can be inserted so the whole span sits in the target; a design with sites set back from the tip, as on some tetrode and Buzsaki layouts, needs the set-back added to the insertion depth. Along with shank length it is the number to read before planning a penetration.
Typical values
| Catalog silicon probes | 18 µm to 0.75 mm from the tip; 50 µm is typical |
|---|---|
| Design-space parameter | Shallowest site (sitePosYMinMm) |