Design of a Low-Power Ground-Free Analog Front End for ECG Acquisition

This article presents the design of a low-power ground-free (two-electrode) analog front end (AFE) for ECG acquisition. At the heart of the design is the low-power common-mode interference (CMI) suppression circuit (CMI-SC) to help minimize the common-mode input swing and prevent turning on the ESD diodes at the input of the AFE. Fabricated in a 0.18-mu m CMOS process with an active area of 0.8 mm(2), the two-electrode AFE can tolerate CMI of up to 12 V-pp, while consuming only 6.55 mu Wof power from a 1.2-V supply and exhibiting 1.67 mu V-rms of input-referred noise in a 1-100 Hz bandwidth. Compared to existing works, the proposed two-electrode AFE thus provides a 3xreduction in power for comparable noise and CMI suppression performances.

Automated summary

This article presents the design of a low-power ground-free (two-electrode) analog front end (AFE) for ECG acquisition. The design includes a low-power common-mode interference (CMI) suppression circuit (CMI-SC) to minimize common-mode input swing and prevent ESD diodes from turning on. The fabricated two-electrode AFE can tolerate up to 12 V-pp of CMI, consumes only 6.55 μW of power from a 1.2-V supply, and exhibits 1.67 μV-rms of input-referred noise in a 1-100 Hz bandwidth, providing a 3x reduction in power compared to existing works.