Neuropixels Ultra
Neuropixels Ultra · 384-site dense window
Electrode-bearing structure · dimensions in millimeters
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Model fidelity. A flat cropped dense recording window, not the complete 6,144-site probe. The primary paper specifies 5 × 5 µm contacts at 6 µm center pitch and a 48 × 8 simultaneous dense configuration. Half-pitch margins define the 48 × 288 µm crop; contact-face outer extents are 47 × 287 µm. The silicon thickness is 24 µm from the NP 1.0 datasheet, which Ultra explicitly says has identical shank form. No tip position or probe-base origin is inferred. Full 768 × 8 site array, 10 mm shank, reference pad, switch groups, acquisition map, headstage and TiN surface texture are omitted. Exported IDs identify only geometric contact centers in this crop; they are not acquisition channel IDs. This model does not implement neural recording or electrical field simulation.
Sources & reference images
Dimensions come from the linked specifications; images guide shape only. Reference images remain on their owners’ websites.
- Ye et al. (2025), NP Ultra geometry and dense configuration ↗
- Neuropixels 1.0 datasheet, thickness; Ultra reports identical shank form ↗
JSON includes physical site coordinates, unknown channel mappings and approximation notes. GLB uses meters. These models do not predict recording or stimulation performance.
Applications
Neuropixels Ultra
Ye and colleagues’ 2025 paper describes Neuropixels Ultra, a silicon probe designed for much denser extracellular sampling than earlier Neuropixels probes. The primary author affiliations include University of Washington, Allen Institute, Columbia, Janelia and imec, alongside other international collaborators. It is a distinct hardware configuration, not a software resolution upgrade to a standard probe.
Published site layout
| Feature | Reported specification |
|---|---|
| Physical sites | 6,144, on a 768 × 8 grid |
| Recording-site material and size | Titanium nitride, 5 × 5 µm |
| Gap / center pitch | 1 µm gap; 6 µm center-to-center spacing |
| Total dense site span | Approximately 4.6 mm × 48 µm |
| Simultaneous readout | 384 channels selected from the available sites |
| Dense readout configuration | 48 × 8 sites |
| Longer configurations | 96 × 4, 192 × 2 and 384 × 1 |
| Mechanical form factor | Paper states shank dimensions and base match Neuropixels 1.0 |
The available physical sites are not 6,144 simultaneous channels. Site selection uses grouped switching because multiple sites share switch memory. Different configurations can be placed at different positions along the total span.
Density versus coverage
The densest 384-channel configuration covers approximately 288 µm vertically, compared with approximately 3,840 µm for the paper’s Neuropixels 1.0 comparison. Selecting fewer columns allows a longer span at reduced density. The 4.6 mm total site field is not the length of every simultaneously sampled region.
The paper reports higher per-site impedance and somewhat higher noise than Neuropixels 1.0. Dense sampling nevertheless improves measured waveform amplitude, spatial localization and sorting in the tested conditions. That is a trade-off, not a claim that smaller contacts always improve every recording.
Demonstrated use
The linked animal recording and classification study reports mouse visual-cortex yield, small-footprint signals across regions and species, and optotagged interneuron classification. These are research results, not clinical qualification or demonstrated assistive-device control.
Geometry and evidence limits
The contact lattice is well specified, but a complete model would also require the exact site-field origin, tip, shank and package definitions. No complete 3D model is inferred from the statement that its form factor matches Neuropixels 1.0. The contact configurations do not supply a universal acquisition channel map.
The paper’s online publication is September 30, 2025; its issue date is December 3, 2025. These are publication dates, not separate hardware generations.
Primary sources
- Primary full text and author affiliations.
- Publisher article.
- Author-hosted publisher PDF, inspected for design and methods.
Dense-window reference model
The viewer shows a cropped 48 × 8 dense recording window: 384 contact faces at 6 µm center pitch, each 5 × 5 µm. It is not the entire 6,144-site probe. The 48 × 288 µm crop includes half-pitch margins; actual contact-face outer extents are 47 × 287 µm. Silicon thickness follows the NP 1.0 manufacturer datasheet, because the Ultra paper explicitly reports identical shank form. Full shank, tip origin, switch groups, channel map and electronics are omitted. Exported site IDs are geometry labels.