ARTICLE IN PRESS

Microelectronics Journal 40 (2009) 1313–1321

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Microelectronics Journal
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mejo

Ultra-low-power biopotential interfaces and their applications in wearable

and implantable systems
Refet Firat Yazicioglu a,, Tom Torfs a, Patrick Merken a, Julien Penders b, Vladimir Leonov a,
Robert Puers c, Bert Gyselinckx b, Chris Van Hoof a,c
a
IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
b
Holst Centre/IMEC-NL, High Tech Campus 31, 5656 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands
c
K. U. Leuven, ESAT, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

a r t i c l e in fo abstract

Article history: Traditionally the monitoring of the biopotential signals are only limited to clinical applications. On the
Received 28 March 2008 other hand, there is a growing demand for these biopotential signals to be used in non-clinical
Received in revised form applications in order to improve the quality of life and enable the interaction between humans and
26 June 2008
machines. However, such non-clinical applications of biopotential signal monitoring requires various
Accepted 21 August 2008
Available online 1 October 2008
improvements not only in terms of size and comfort of the biopotential acquisition systems, but also in
terms of their power dissipation. An important building block of the biopotential acquisition systems is
Keywords: the front-end circuitry that defines the quality of the extracted signals and unfortunately consumes
Biopotential unacceptable power, when the currently available circuitry is considered. Therefore, this paper focuses
EEG
on the advances in low-power and high-performance readout circuit design for the acquisition of
ECG
biopotential signals. In addition, several application examples will be demonstrated, which proves that
EMG
Readout circuit the realization of high-performance and low-power readout circuits can actually enable the
Chopper stabilization implementation of miniaturized and comfortable biopotential acquisition systems extending the usage
Instrumentation amplifier of such systems towards non-clinical applications.
Readout circuit & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Acquisition system
VEMP
AC-coupled chopper stabilization
Thermoelectric generator

1. Introduction
Experts indicate that as many as 98,000 people die only in the
US each year at hospitals as a result of medical errors such as
diagnostics and treatment, which are commonly caused by
conditions and faulty systems that lead people to make mistakes.
Additionally, the cost of healthcare delivery is steadily on an
upward trend, projected to triple in dollars, consuming 21% of GDP
in the US and 16% of GDP in other Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) countries by 2020.
A vital and costly part of the current healthcare systems is the
monitoring of the biopotential signals, such as electroencephalo-
gram (EEG), electrocardiogram (ECG), and electromyogram (EMG).
During the monitoring of the biopotential signals, the patients are
connected to a bulky and mains-powered device, which not only
reduces their comfort and mobility, but also increases the cost due
 Corresponding author. Tel.: +32 16 28 8130; fax: +32 16 28 8500.
E-mail address: firat@imec.be (R.F. Yazicioglu).
to the fact that the monitoring should always take place at a
hospital under the control of the medical personnel.
On the other hand, there is a huge interest towards the usage of
biopotential signals in non-clinical applications. Some examples
to these non-clinical applications in the case of EEG monitoring
can be the human–computer interfaces and gaming, where the
functions of a computer can be controlled by the thoughts of the
user or the characters in the game can respond to the thoughts of
the player. Similarly, the EMG signals can be monitored to
improve the performance of the athletes and ECG signals can be
used for comfort monitoring.
However, there are different concerns for clinical and non-
clinical applications in terms of the biopotential acquisition
systems. While the main concern for the clinical applications is
the signal quality that is acquired from the acquisition system, the
non-clinical applications also requires that the biopotential
monitoring device should be comfortable, miniaturized, battery
powered, and unobtrusive. In addition, it should also have long-
term power autonomy and wireless communication, so that a true
ambulatory biopotential monitoring system can be achieved.

0026-2692/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mejo.2008.08.015
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Fig. 1. Evaluation of the biopotential acquisition systems. Final device is tailored
towards the needs of both the clinical and non-clinical applications.
Fig. 1 shows the example of what needs to be achieved, in
terms of size, in order to meet the miniature size, unobtrusive
look, and comfort requirements of non-clinical applications. Due
to the fact that, the end device will be powered from low-capacity
batteries, the power dissipation of the system must be signifi-
cantly reduced compared to the initial relatively large system.
Therefore, this paper describes the low-power analog readout
front-end implementation techniques and their applications for
the realization of these miniaturized biopotential acquisition
systems that not only have very good signal quality, but also have
miniaturize size and unobtrusive look. Section 2 will give a brief
introduction to the biopotential signals and the challenges that
the readout circuit will need to overcome to extract biopotential
signals from the human body. Section 3 will describe the IMEC’s
low-power biopotential readout front-end circuits, and Section 4
will demonstrate the wearable and implantable biopotential
acquisition systems that use the integrated circuits presented in
Section 3. Finally, Section 5 will state the conclusions of this paper.
2. Introduction to biopotential acquisition
Fig. 2 shows the amplitude and frequency characteristics of the
biopotential signals. The main features of these signals are their
very low-amplitude and very low-frequency behavior that will
cause various aggressors to be dominant. Therefore, the quality of
the extracted biopotential signals from the human body is
dependent on how good the acquisition system can reject these
aggressors.
Fig. 2. Frequency and amplitude characteristics of biopotential signals.
Fig. 3. A biopotential readout circuit connected to the biopotential electrodes for
the extraction of EEG signals. The equivalent circuit model of biopotential
electrodes is an impedance in series with a voltage source called the half-cell
potential. Human body is also capacitively coupled to the mains and to the earth.
The extraction of biopotential signals is performed by
connecting electrodes to the human body. These electrodes
actually act as transducers and convert the ionic current inside
the human body into electronic current so that the readout circuit
can amplify the biopotential signals [1]. Fig. 3 shows a typical
configuration that uses a readout circuit to extract biopotential
signals from the human body using biopotential electrodes to
which the inputs of the readout circuit are connected. The
equivalent circuit model of the biopotential electrodes can be
described by using an impedance (Z) and a voltage source (VHC),
which is due to the charge build-up between the skin–electrode
interface and called the ‘‘half-cell potential’’ [1]. Hence, the
aggressors of the biopotential signals can be described in three
groups.
The first one is due to the fact that the human body is always
capacitively coupled to the mains and to the ground. Therefore,
the capacitive path appearing between the mains line and the
earth results in a displacement current that also includes the
human body. This creates an AC voltage on the human body,
which is actually a common mode input to the readout circuit.
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The second problem is due to the presence of the half-cell
potential. The half-cell potential of two electrodes will never
perfectly match to each other, because of the different skin
conditions in different parts of the body. This will result in a
differential DC voltage input to the readout circuit that is orders of
magnitude larger than the biopotential signals. And finally, the
last problem is the presence of large 1/f noise in CMOS transistors
at low frequencies that will considerably increase the noise of the
readout circuit.
As a result, in order to meet the high signal quality demands of
both the clinical and non-clinical applications, the readout circuit
should have high common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) for
rejecting the common mode interference from the mains, should
be AC-coupled to the electrodes for filtering the differential
DC input, and should minimize the 1/f noise for improving the
signal-to-noise ratio of the extracted biopotential signals. In
addition to all these signal quality-related requirements, the
readout circuit must consume minimal power in order to
maximize the power autonomy of the acquisition system.
3. Low-power biopotential readout front-end circuits
Under the framework of the Human++ program IMEC has
implemented various biopotential readout circuits that can enable
the implementation of truly portable biopotential acquisition
systems with long-term or complete power autonomy. The rest of
this section will describe these biopotential readout circuits.
3.1. Single-channel ExG readout front-end application-specific
integrated circuit (ASIC)
This is the first circuit that has been developed by IMEC
towards the realization of miniaturized and low-power biopoten-
tial acquisition systems. Fig. 4 shows the architecture of the ASIC
[2,3]. The preamplifier of the ASIC uses the AC-coupled chopper-
stabilized instrumentation amplifier (ACCIA) architecture. The
ACCIA combines the chopper stabilization technique [4], with
high-pass filter (HPF) characteristics. Thus, it can achieve high
CMRR, while eliminating the flicker noise of the CMOS transistors
and filtering the differential DC voltage generated between two
biopotential electrodes.
Fig. 5 shows the concept of the proposed ACCIA [2,3]. The input
voltage is modulated by a modulator and amplified by the core
amplifier. The DC servo-loop implemented by a low-pass filter
Fig. 4. Architecture of the single-channel ExG readout front-end ASIC.
1315
(LPF) senses the DC signal of the output, which is actually
proportional to the DC input voltage to the ACCIA, and subtracts it
from the input of the core amplifier. When this negative feedback
loop settles, the output of the DC servo-loop is equal to the
DC input voltage to the ACCIA. Hence, the amplification of the
DC input voltage is prevented and AC coupling can be realized.
Therefore, this technique can eliminate the 1/f noise of the CMOS
transistors, due to the chopper stabilization, and it can also filter
the differential DC input from the biopotential electrodes. As a
result, this technique can achieve very high signal quality.
Meanwhile, it can also achieve low-power dissipation if the core
amplifier can be selected as a current balancing instrumentation
amplifier (CBIA) [2,3]. The implemented IA consumes only 11.1 mA
from 3 V, while achieving 60 nV/OHz input-referred voltage noise
density. This translates into a noise-efficiency factor (NEF) of 9.2.
The CMRR of the ACCIA is above 120 dB and input impedance is
larger than 100 MO.
When this performance is compared with the state-of-the-art,
the IA presented in [5] achieves 4.8; however, it has only 86 dB
CMRR. On the other hand, the IA presented in [6] also uses an
ACCIA and achieves an NEF of 4.9; however the input impedance
of the amplifier is insufficient (10 MO) for most biopotential
readout applications.
In addition to the ACCIA, the readout front-end includes a
digitally programmable gain stage that enables the user to select
the most convenient dynamic range and bandwidth depending on
the application. The digitally programmable gain stage of the
readout front-end eliminates the use of switched-capacitor gain
stage architectures to prevent the fold-over of noise, and uses
continuous-time implementations that serve not only as a gain
Fig. 5. Concept of the AC-coupled chopper-stabilized instrumentation amplifier
(ACCIA).
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stage, but also as an anti-aliasing filter for the sampling analog-to-
digital converter (ADC). Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of
the readout front-end. The total power dissipation of the ASIC is
60 mW from a single 3 V supply voltage.
3.2. Eight-channel EEG readout front-end ASIC
Due to the fact that some biopotential acquisition systems
require large number of channels, such as EEG acquisition, an ASIC
incorporating eight readout front-end channels has been imple-
mented [7]. Fig. 6 shows the architecture of the ASIC. Each channel
of the ASIC uses the similar channel architecture with the single-
channel ExG readout front-end ASIC. All the channels are time
multiplexed at the back-end, and buffered so that a single ADC can
digitize all the channels of the ASIC. The positive input of each
channel can be connected to a biopotential electrode; whereas
the negative inputs of the channels are shorted so that it can
be connected to a reference electrode on the body. The total
power consumption of the ASIC is around 300 mW from a single
3 V supply and each channel has an input-referred voltage noise
density around 80 nV/OHz and CMRR larger than 130 dB.
3.3. A complete eight-channel EEG readout front-end ASIC
Fig. 7 shows the architecture of the complete EEG acquisition
ASIC [8]. The main building blocks of the ASIC are as follows: eight
readout front-end channels, an 11-bit successive approximation
(SAR) ADC, a temperature- and supply-independent bias circuit, a
1 MHz relaxation oscillator, an electrode impedance measurement
circuit, and a calibration signal generator. The readout front-end
channels are responsible for extracting and conditioning the EEG
Table 1
Performance summary of the single-channel ExG readout front-end ASIC
Voltage supply 3V
Current consumption 20 mA
Input common mode range 1.05–1.7 V
Electronic gain selection (IA Gain ¼ 10) 390, 800, 1550, 2500
Continuous gain adjustment via R2
Input-referred voltage noise density 57 nV/OHz
THD (@ 5 mVpp input and minimum gain) 0.52%
CMRR 4120 dB
PSRR +/ 480 dB/78 dB
High-pass cut-off frequency (Cext2 ¼ 1 mF, Cext2 ¼ 22 nF) 0.30, 14.0 Hz
Low-pass cut-off frequency Electronically selectable
DC input current (at 50 mV DEO) o0.5 nA
Fig. 6. Architecture of the eight-channel EEG readout front-end ASIC.
signals from the biopotential electrodes. The preamplifier of
a readout channel is an ACCIA, which has improved NEF
compared to the previous ACCIAs. In order to improve the NEF, this
ACCIA uses a coarse and a fine DC servo to reduce their power
dissipation [8].
The implemented ACCIA achieves only 2.3 mA and achieves
input-referred voltage noise density of 55 nV/OHz. This translates
into a NEF of 4.2, which surpasses the competitors in [5,6] not
only in NEF, but also in CMRR and input impedance. Hence, it
achieves the state-of-the-art performance in the literature.
The ACCIA is followed by a CSF stage, which includes a HPF
with adjustable cut-off frequency. After the CSF stage a program-
mable gain stage further amplifies the extracted biopotential
signals. The output of each channel is buffered and time multi-
plexed. Finally, a class-AB buffer drives the input capacitance of
the ADC.
The ADC of the ASIC has been implemented using the well-
known SAR architecture and divides the 11-bit capacitive digital-
to-analog converter (DAC) of the SAR into capacitively coupled
6-bit main and 5-bit sub-DACs in order to reduce the area of the
ADC. The total power dissipation of the ADC is around 8 mA, when
it is converting at 8 kSps. The DNL and INL are better than 0.3 and
1.5 LSB, respectively.
In addition to the acquisition of the biopotential signals, this
ASIC also includes different operational modes such as calibration
mode, where the voltage gain of the channels can be calibrated,
and the electrode impedance measurement mode, where ASIC is
configured to measure the impedances of the biopotential
electrodes to which it is attached. The total power dissipation of
the ASIC is less than 200 mW from a single 3 V supply, when the
sampling rate of the ADC is 8 kSps.
3.4. Comparison with state-of-the-art
The IA of the readout front-end circuits is the most important
building block due to the fact that it defines the quality of the
extracted biopotential signals and also it dominates the power
dissipation of the readout front-end. Therefore, the main compar-
ison criteria are the performance of the instrumentation ampli-
fiers in terms of CMRR, input impedance, and NEF.
Table 2 gives a comparison of the described IAs with other
published IA implementations in the literature for the extraction
of biopotential signals. The table also gives the standards set by
the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology (IFCN)
for the extraction of EEG signals [9]. The only IAs that meet all the
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Fig. 7. Architecture of the complete eight-channel EEG acquisition ASIC.

Table 2
Comparison of the presented instrumentation amplifiers with state-of-the-art and with IFCN standards

IFCN standards [5] [6] ACCIA section 2A ACCIA section 2C

Voltage (V)  5 1.8 3 3

Current  180 nA 1.2 mA 11.1 mA 2.3 mA
Input-referred noise (0.5100 Hz) o0.5 mVrms 1.6 mVrms 0.94 mVrms 0.6 mVrms 0.57 mVrms
CMRR (dB) 4110 486 105 4120 4120
Input impedance 4100 MO Large 47.5 MO 4100 MO 41 GO
HPF–3 dB cut-off o0.16 Hz 0.016 Hz 0.5 Hz 0.5 Hz (ext. cap) 0.1 Hz
Area ( mm2)  0.16 1.4 0.61 0.45
NEF  4.8 4.9 9.2 4.1

standards from the IFCN are the IAs of IMEC, making them highly
suitable for the extraction of high-quality biopotential signals. On
the other hand, the recent IA of IMEC has the lowest NEF meaning
that it has the best power efficiency compared to the other IAs.
Therefore, it is also highly suitable for low-power biopotential
acquisition system implementations. Hence, it can be concluded
that due to their very low-power dissipation and high signal
quality, the presented IAs are highly suitable for the implementa-
tion of miniaturized and battery-powered biopotential acquisition
systems with long-term power autonomy.
4. Wearable and implantable biopotential acquisition systems
The low-noise and low-power ASICs of the previous sections
have opened the doors towards the realization of various wearable
and implantable biopotential acquisition systems that can be
useful to improve the comfort of the patient in clinical applica-
tions or that can extend the applications of biopotential signal
monitoring towards non-clinical applications, such as brain–com-
puter interfaces, sports, entertainment, or comfort monitoring.
This section presents the wireless and miniaturized biopoten-
tial acquisition systems that make use of the presented ASICs. All
of the wireless biopotential acquisition systems include a state-of-
the-art low-power microcontroller, a state-of-the-art low-power
radio, and a custom designed antenna. Ag/AgCl electrodes are
used together with the systems due to their superior stability on
the human skin. For the monitoring of the ECG and EMG signals,
no skin preparation has been made, however, for EEG monitoring,
scratching of the dead skin tissue (stratum corneum) and cleaning
is necessary to lower the electrode–skin impedance below
IFCN standards (10 kO) [9].
The low-power microcontroller is the MSP430 from Texas
Instruments [10]. It consumes 0.6 nJ/instruction active power. Its
low stand-by power (2 mW) and fast wake-up time enables the
duty-cycled operation of the microcontroller. Furthermore,
the built-in ADC can be used to digitize the analog output of the
biopotential readout front-end ASICs.
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The low-power radio is the nRF2401 2.4 GHz transceiver from

Nordic [11]. It is capable of transmitting at a maximum data rate
of 1 Mbit/s. Thus, the low data-rate applications can be operated
in burst mode, transmitting the data at high data rates and
turning off the transceiver during the rest of the time, in order to
decrease the power dissipation. The supply current of the
transceiver is 8 mA, when transmitting at 5 dBm, and 15 mA in
receive mode. The antenna of each system is a custom designed
integrated modified dipole antenna, which takes into account the
close proximity of the human body [12].

4.1. A wireless vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP)

acquisition system

The measurement of VEMP is a relatively new clinical non-

invasive diagnostics for the patients with specific vestibular Fig. 9. Extracted VEMP signal from a healthy subject.
(balance) disorders [13,14]. However, the currently available VEMP
measurement systems are cabled systems that obstruct the
experiments involving the motion and the rotation of the patients.
Therefore, a compact and wireless VEMP acquisition system is
implemented for the first time [15], which employs two of the
single-channel ExG readout front-end ASICs.
Fig. 8 shows the photo of the wireless VEMP acquisition
system. It consists of a MSP430 microcontroller, a single-chip
short-range 2.4 GHz transceiver, a dipole antenna, and two audio
amplifiers, in addition to two single-channel ExG readout front-
end ASICs. The two ExG ASICs are responsible for extracting the
EMG response of the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscles on the
two sides of the neck to voice stimulation through ears. Thanks to
its configurable gain and bandwidth, the ExG readout front-end
ASICs can be configured for the needs of the VEMP acquisition
system. The voice signals are generated by the internal DAC of the
Fig. 10. Wireless two-channel ExG acquisition system
MSP430 microcontroller. The audio amplifiers drive the two
earphones of the patient, through which the voice stimulation of
the vestibular organ can be performed. The microcontroller clearly visible demonstrating the operation of the wireless VEMP
generates the clock signal for the ExG ASICs and digitizes the acquisition system and the successful integration of the ExG ASICs
outputs of the ASICs by its internal 12-bit ADC. The radio to the wireless VEMP acquisition system.
transmits the digitized VEMP signals to the computer through
the wireless link over an USB transceiver.
A wireless VEMP test has been performed on a voluntary test 4.2. A wireless two-channel ExG acquisition system
person to demonstrate the operation of the system. Fig. 9 shows
the result of the wireless VEMP measurement on a healthy subject A wireless two-channel ExG acquisition system is implemen-
after the averaging of the 100 stimulations. The amplitude of the ted that fully utilizes the configurable characteristics of the single-
VEMP signal is referred to the input of the ExG ASIC. The most channel ExG ASIC [16]. In addition to using two single-channel
important characteristics of a VEMP signal, p13 and n23 peaks, are ExG ASICs, a MSP430 microcontroller, a nRF2401 2.4 GHz
transceiver, and a dipole antenna are integrated into the system.
Fig. 10 shows the implemented wireless ExG acquisition board.
The system is capable of extracting EEG, ECG, EMG, and EOG
signals, thanks to the configurable gain and bandwidth of the ExG
ASIC.
The implemented wireless ExG system is compared with a
commercial polysomnography (PSG) recording system in terms of
patient autonomy and in terms of signal quality. Fig. 11 shows the
implementation of the three wireless ExG systems as a PSG
recording system [16]. The three wireless ExG acquisition systems
are integrated in a flexible band that is worn by the subject. It
simultaneously acquires single-channel EEG, two-channel EOG,
and single-channel EMG.
Fig. 11 also shows the implemented PSG recording system and
the commercial PSG recording system worn by a subject. The
commercial system has long wires connecting the electrodes to
the central node with the chest strap, which can create discomfort
and result in cable movement artifacts. In addition, the commer-
cial acquisition system needs to be connected to the computer
positioned beside the bed through a cable, which considerably
Fig. 8. Wireless VEMP acquisition system. limits the patient autonomy. On the contrary, the implemented
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Fig. 11. Implementation of the ExG acquisition systems as PSG recording system and comparison with a commercial PSG recording system.

Fig. 12. Quantitative comparison of the signals from the commercial PSG and the IMEC’s PSG system showing the time spent in each stage of sleep.

PSG recording system is worn by the patient on her head, and the
wireless link to the computer enables the free movement of the
patient inside the room. Therefore, the implemented system has
superior autonomy and comfort compared to the commercial PSG
recording system.
Fig. 12 shows the quantitative comparison of the signals
extracted from the two PSG systems during the sleep of the
subject. The pie charts indicate the percentage of time that has
been spent by the patient in each stage of her sleep during the
sleep process. As the values clearly demonstrate the two systems
are very close to each other demonstrating the quality of the
extracted signals from the wireless two-channel ExG acquisition
system, which in turn proves the performance of the implemented
single-channel ExG readout front-end ASIC. Therefore, it can be
concluded that a battery-powered and ambulatory biopotential
acquisition system can have as good signal quality as a
commercial and mains-powered acquisition system.
4.3. A 1 cm3 wireless eight-channel EEG acquisition system
Although EEG diagnostic is a time consuming test, conven-
tional EEG acquisition systems prevent the patients’ mobility due
to their bulky size and high-power consumption. Therefore, in an
attempt to minimize the size and maximize the portability of the
multi-channel EEG acquisition systems, a miniature eight-channel
EEG acquisition system has been implemented utilizing the eight-
channel EEG readout front-end ASIC and using the IMEC’s
3D system-in-a-package approach, which enables high integration
density and small footprint resulting in a very small form factor
for the EEG acquisition systems.
Fig. 13 shows the implemented wireless EEG acquisition
system. It consists of four layers, where each has dedicated
purposes. The top layer is the radio layer. Similar to the previous
wireless acquisition systems, it uses the nRF2401 2.4 GHz
transceiver to communicate with the computer. A dipole antenna
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is integrated that is folded around the transceiver to maximize the
total perimeter of the antenna while minimizing the consumed
area [12]. The layer below the radio layer is the microcontroller
layer that integrates the MSP430 microcontroller. The layer
beneath the microcontroller layer is the sensor layer, which uses
the eight-channel EEG readout front-end ASIC.
The EEG ASIC is wire bonded to the printed circuit board (PCB)
substrate and covered with glob top for protection. The passives of
the ASIC are placed at the bottom side of the PCB. Each layer is
attached to each other through ‘‘ball-to-ball’’ stacking concept,
which provides electrical and mechanical interconnection be-
tween the two adjoining layers [17]. Finally, a prismatic Li-ion
battery with 150 mAh capacity and a 3 V voltage regulator is used
as the power layer.
Fig. 14 shows the power dissipation of the building blocks of
the 1 cm3 wireless EEG acquisition system for 2048 Hz (256 Hz/
chn) and 4096 Hz (512 Hz/chn) sampling rate. In both cases, the
dominant power dissipating block is the radio. The EEG ASIC has
only 10% contribution to the total power dissipation even if the
256 Hz/chn sampling rate is used, where the power dissipation of
the radio and the microcontroller is minimized. Based on these
figures, it can be concluded that the low-power design techniques
presented in this paper are highly efficient for minimizing the
power dissipation of the readout front-end. As a result, the
wireless eight-channel EEG acquisition system has power auton-
omy of 60 h even at 512 Hz/chn sampling rate from a 150 mAh
prismatic Li-ion battery.
Fig. 13. A 1 cm3 wireless eight-channel EEG acquisition system.
Fig. 14. Power dissipation of the building blocks of the 1 cm3 wireless EEG acquisition system for 2048 Hz (256 Hz/chn) and 4096 Hz (512 Hz/chn) sampling rate.
4.4. Fully autonomous body-powered and wireless
EEG acquisition system
All the biopotential acquisition systems of the previous
sections are battery-powered devices. Therefore, the charging
and the replacement of the battery is necessary, which reduces
the autonomy of these devices. This disadvantage of the battery-
powered systems can be eliminated by charging or replacing the
battery through a power scavenger.
Fig. 15 shows the body-powered EEG acquisition system with
complete power autonomy and wireless data transmission. It
consists of a thermoelectric generator on the forehead of the
subject to convert the waste heat from the forehead into electrical
power [18]. The electronics at the back side of the head is
completely powered from the thermoelectric generator [19]. The
architecture of the electronics section is similar to the previous
systems, except to the addition of high-efficiency DC–DC
converters in order to generate stable supply voltages for the
building blocks of the acquisition system.
Fig. 15. Fully autonomous body-powered EEG acquisition system with wireless
data transmission. Thermoelectric generator (a), EEG electrode under the head
band (b), and acquisition electronics that includes two single-channel ExG
acquisition ASICs (c).
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The thermoelectric generator design consists of 10 sections,
each of which measures 1.6  4 cm2, and it can conform to the
shape of each subject’s forehead. It is designed for indoor use at
ambient temperatures of up to 26 1C. At 23 1C, it produces
approximately 2 mW or 30 mW/cm2 [18]. The power dissipation
of the electronic system is only 0.8 mW, leading to robust
operation under a broad range of ambient temperature.
5. Conclusions
There is a growing demand for the biopotential acquisition
systems to be used in non-clinical applications. However, one of the
main problems with the current biopotential acquisition systems is
their large power dissipation, huge size, and discomfort. Therefore,
the necessity for a low-power readout front-end circuit for the
extraction of biopotential signals is crucial towards the integration
of low-power and miniature biopotential acquisition systems.
In this paper, we have described the recent advances in readout
front-end circuit design for biopotential signal acquisition. Three
readout ASICs are described for the extraction of biopotential
signals with high-quality and low-power dissipation. All of these
circuits achieve state-of-the-art performance and meet the
challenging specifications from IFCN. Finally, various system
applications have been demonstrated that make use of the
presented ASICs. These system demonstrators prove both the
efficiency of our low-power design techniques and our vision
towards the realization of miniaturized biopotential acquisition
systems that will extend the device applications.
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