Patent ID: 7809432

Claim:
An apparatus for measuring the activity of neural networks with a textured semiconductor substrate, comprising: a plurality of sensor elements with at least one respective electrically conductive detection electrode which is arranged on the surface of the semiconductor substrate to detect neural signals from a neural network, the sensor elements being designed such that the detected neural signals are a basis for outputting electrical sensor output signals via respective sensor outputs on the sensor elements; a plurality of amplifier elements with at least one respective amplifier input and at least one respective amplifier output, each of the sensor elements having associated one of the amplifier elements whose amplifier input is electrically connected to the sensor output of the respective sensor element, and the amplified sensor output signal being output as an amplifier output signal via the amplifier output; and at least one activity evaluation device with a plurality of event memories configured to store neural events, at least one memory reading device configured to read the event memories, at least one evaluation input, and at least one evaluation output, the evaluation input being electrically connected to at least one of the amplifier outputs, and the activity evaluation device being designed to produce an activity signal, which is a measure of the activity of the neural network based on of the amplifier output signal and to output the amplifier output signal via the evaluation output, wherein the plurality of sensor elements do not transfer transient data to the activity evaluation device.