Patent ID: 8099172

Claim:
A method of fabricating an implantable paddle lead for delivering electrical stimulation to a patient, the method comprising: providing a lead body having a plurality of conductive wires, wherein the plurality of conductive wires are helically wound at a wire spacing pitch; providing a sheet of conductive material coupled to a first insulative layer; laser removing portions of the conductive material to form a pattern of conductive material, the pattern of conductive material including a plurality of isolated metal traces forming a plurality of electrodes at a distal end of the paddle and corresponding plurality of contacts at a proximate end of the paddle with the plurality of contacts substantially matching the wires spacing pitch of the lead body; providing a second insulative layer over the pattern of conductive material so that the pattern of conductive material is interposed between the first and second insulative layers to form a paddle; exposing portions of the metal traces to expose, through the second insulative layer, at least portions of the plurality of electrodes and plurality of contacts; placing the lead body proximate with the paddle such that (i) an exposed segment of the plurality of conductive wires of the lead body abuts the contacts of the metal traces and (ii) each contact of the metal traces is co-aligned with and oriented coincidentally to a unique conductive wire of plurality of conductive wires of the lead body; and transmitting energy onto each contact so that the respective contact becomes welded to an abutting conductive wire of the medical lead thereby electrically coupling the abutting conductive wire to a respective electrode of the stimulation paddle.