Description Faraday Technology, Inc. proposes to develop the Faradayic ElectroEtching Process, based on pulsed electrolytic through-mask etching of nitinol stents, for rapid stent fabrication while maintaining pattern fidelity in a neutral, aqueous, non-toxic electrolyte. This process will enable stent manufacturing while minimizing process control difficulties and high reject rates associated with conventional laser cutting and electropolishing of nitinol stents. Compared to conventional laser cutting practices, the Faradayic ElectroEtching Process will not impart thermal damage to the stent, eliminating the need for descaling of undesired oxides. It is believed that the Faradayic Process will be able to """"""""cut"""""""" a stent in less than two minutes, independent of the pattern complexity. The proposed program will enable high yield, high precision manufacturing of expandable vascular endoprostheses devices, or stents. Increasing the yield and precision of the stent will lower the cost and failure rate of these devices, with immediate benefit to the public health. Furthermore, this manufacturing technology will enable more advanced stent designs and is compatible with drug eluting stents.
The specific aims of the Phase I effort are to demonstrate the feasibility of this innovative pulsed electrolytic through-mask etching process for cost- effective fabrication of nitinol stents, with etch rates of >25 Public Health Relevance
