Characterization of an Active Micro-Electrode Array with Spike Detection and Asynchronous Readout

We present performance characterization of a bio-potential recording system with an asynchronous readout architecture. The signal processing chain consists of a low-noise bio-potential amplifier, spike detection circuitry, and an address event representation (AER) communication protocol. The system was fabricated in a 0.5 mu m CMOS technology. Each stage of the recording system was tested individually, and the systems' detection specificity and sensitivity were evaluated. For input spike amplitudes of 560 mu V, a detection rate of 81 % was obtained with a false positive rate of 7 %.