Ultralow power voltage reference circuit for implantable devices in standard CMOS technology

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Óscar Pereira-Rial, Paula López, Juan M. Carrillo, Victor M. Brea and Diego Cabello (2019) Ultralow power voltage reference circuit for implantable devices in standard CMOS technology. International journal of circuit theory and applications, 47 (7), 991-1005, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/cta.2643. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived VersionsAn ultralow power CMOS voltage reference for body implantable devices is presented in this paper. The circuit core consists of only regular threshold voltage PMOS transistors, thus leading to a very reduced output voltage dispersion, defined as σ/μ, and extremely low power consumption. A mathematical model of the generated reference voltage was obtained by solving circuit equations, and its numerical solution has been validated by extensive electrical simulations using a commercial circuit simulator. The proposed solution incorporates a passive RC low‐pass filter, to enhance power supply rejection (PSR) over a wide frequency range, and a speed‐up section, to accelerate the switching‐on of the circuit. The prototype was implemented in 0.18 μm standard CMOS technology and is able to operate with supply voltages ranging from 0.7 to 1.8 V providing a measured output voltage value of 584.2 mV at the target temperature of 36° C. The measured σ/μ dispersion of the reference voltage generated is 0.65% without the need of trimming. At the minimum supply of 0.7 V, the experimental power consumption is 64.5 pW, while the measured PSR is kept below –60 dB from DC up to the MHz frequency rangeThis work has been partially funded by the Spanish government projects TEC2015‐66878‐C3‐3‐R (MINECO/FEDER) and RTI2018‐097088‐B‐C32 (FEDER), by the Xunta de Galicia under project ED431C2017/69, by the Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria (accreditation 2016‐2019, ED431G/08 and reference competitive group 2017‐2020, ED431C 2017/69), by the Junta de Extremadura R&D Plan, and the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRD) under Grant IB18079S

An Ultralow Power Multirate FSK Demodulator With Digital-Assisted Calibrated Delay-Line Based Phase Shifter for High-Speed Biomedical Zero-IF Receivers

[[abstract]]頻率鍵移接收解調電路可廣泛應用於穿戴式或植入式生理訊號感測器與各種環境監測之成測器上，其其有超低功率消耗與抗干擾能力強之優點，因此可大幅增加成測器之使用壽命並提供可靠與穩定之資料傳輸品質。本論文提出一高速、可變傳輸速率與超低功耗之頻率鍵移接收解調電路設計。突破先前頻率鍵移解調電路最高解調速度為10 Mb/s 之限制，傳輸速率可達40 Mb/s 以上，因此可大幅降低接收每位元資料所需之能源消耗，提高能源效率。此電路架構可根據使用需求調整其傳輸速率範園1 Mb/s-40 Mb/s，以達到功耗與傳輸速率最佳化之目的。[[notice]]補正完畢[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]紙

Improving Neural Recording Technology at the Nanoscale

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. august 2011. Major: Biomedical Engineering. Advisor: A Redish. 1 computer file (PDF); xviii, 119 pages.Neural recording electrodes are widely used to study normal brain function (e.g., learning, memory, and sensation) and abnormal brain function (e.g., epilepsy, addiction, and depression) and to interface with the nervous system for neuroprosthetics. With a deep understanding of the electrode interface at the nanoscale and the use of novel nanofabrication processes, neural recording electrodes can be designed that surpass previous limits and enable new applications. In this thesis, I will discuss three projects. In the first project, we created an ultralow-impedance electrode coating by controlling the nanoscale texture of electrode surfaces. In the second project, we developed a novel nanowire electrode for long-term intracellular recordings. In the third project, we created a means of wirelessly communicating with ultra-miniature, implantable neural recording devices. The techniques developed for these projects offer significant improvements in the quality of neural recordings. They can also open the door to new types of experiments and medical devices, which can lead to a better understanding of the brain and can enable novel and improved tools for clinical applications

Miniaturized magnetic sensors for implantable magnetomyography

Magnetism‐based systems are widely utilized for sensing and imaging biological phenomena, for example, the activity of the brain and the heart. Magnetomyography (MMG) is the study of muscle function through the inquiry of the magnetic signal that a muscle generates when contracted. Within the last few decades, extensive effort has been invested to identify, characterize and quantify the magnetomyogram signals. However, it is still far from a miniaturized, sensitive, inexpensive and low‐power MMG sensor. Herein, the state‐of‐the‐art magnetic sensing technologies that have the potential to realize a low‐profile implantable MMG sensor are described. The technical challenges associated with the detection of the MMG signals, including the magnetic field of the Earth and movement artifacts are also discussed. Then, the development of efficient magnetic technologies, which enable sensing pico‐Tesla signals, is advocated to revitalize the MMG technique. To conclude, spintronic‐based magnetoresistive sensing can be an appropriate technology for miniaturized wearable and implantable MMG systems

A 110 nA pacemaker sensing channel in CMOS on silicon-on-insulator

PostprintThe design of a sensing channel for implantable cardiac pacemakers in CMOS on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology is presented. The total current consumption is lowered to only 110nA thanks to the optimization at the architectural level, the application of a new class AB design approach at the operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) and the exploitation of the improved characteristics of thin-film fully depleted SOI CMOS technology. The core of the prototyped sense channel (OTA and comparator) occupies 0.06mm/sup 2/ in a 3/spl mu/m technology and is suitable for operation from implantable grade batteries with power supply voltages from 2.8V down to 2V. Experimental results of the building blocks and complete sensing channel performance are presented. The achieved results demonstrate the benefits of fully depleted SOI CMOS technology for micropower applications

On-Chip Solar Energy Harvester and PMU With Cold Start-Up and Regulated Output Voltage for Biomedical Applications

This paper presents experimental results from a system that comprises a fully autonomous energy harvester with a solar cell of 1 mm 2 as energy transducer and a Power Management Unit (PMU) on the same silicon substrate, and an output voltage regulator. Both chips are implemented in standard 0.18 μm CMOS technology with total layout areas of 1.575 mm 2 and 0.0126 mm 2 , respectively. The system also contains an off-the-shelf 3.2 mm × 2.5 mm × 0.9 mm supercapacitor working as an off-chip battery or energy reservoir between the PMU and the voltage regulator. Experimental results show that the fast energy recovery of the on-chip solar cell and PMU permits the system to replenish the supercapacitor with enough charge as to sustain Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communications even with input light powers of 510 nW. The whole system is able to self-start-up without external mechanisms at 340 nW. This work is the first step towards a self-supplied sensor node with processing and communication capabilities. The small form factor and ultra-low power consumption of the system components is in compliance with biomedical applications requirementsThis work was supported in part by the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades) under Project RTI2018-097088-B-C32 and Project RTI2018-095994-B-I00 (MICINN/FEDER), in part by the Xunta de Galicia, in part by the Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria (accreditation 2016-2019, ED431G/08 and reference competitive group 2017-2020, ED431C 2017/69) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and in part by the Junta de Extremadura and the ERDF, under Grant IB 18079S

A sub-threshold differential cmos schmitt trigger with adjustable hysteresis based on body bias technique

This paper presents a sub-threshold differential CMOS Schmitt trigger with tunable hysteresis, which can be used to enhance the noise immunity of low-power electronic systems. By exploiting the body bias technique to the positive feedback transistors, the hysteresis of the proposed Schmitt trigger is generated, and it can be adjusted by the applied bias voltage to the bulk terminal of the utilized PMOS transistors. The principle of operation and the main formulas of the proposed circuit are discussed. The circuit is designed in a 0.18-μm standard CMOS process with a 0.6 V power supply. Post-layout simulation results show that the hysteresis width of the Schmitt trigger can be adjusted from 45.5 mV to 162 mV where the ratio of the hysteresis width variation to supply voltage is 19.4%. This circuit consumes 10.52 × 7.91 μm2 of silicon area, and its power consumption is only 1.38 μW, which makes it a suitable candidate for low-power applications such as portable electronic, biomedical, and bio-implantable systems

High-precision biomagnetic measurement system based on tunnel magneto-resistive effect

This paper presents a novel low-noise and high-precision readout circuit for tunnelling magnetoresistive (TMR) array to evaluate the suitability of biomagnetic measurement platform for detection of weak biomagnetic fields. We propose a three operational-amplifier architecture with a high input impedance and an adjustable gain for the fabricated TMR sensor that is highly miniaturized and can be operated at room temperature. The proposed system was designed using standard 0.18 µm CMOS technology and achieved a good performance with regard to gain, linearity, power consumption, and noise by employing a chopper stabilization technique and common mode feedback. The gain can reach 80 dB through adjusting two 5-bit programmable resistors and the input-referred noise voltage only has 44.6 nV/√Hz with 10 nA input bias over a wide range of frequency. Moreover, the whole readout dissipates 58 µW of power with a 1.8 V supply voltage. Benefiting from the CMOS compatibility of the TMR sensor, it offers monolithic integration directly on a silicon substrate as a TMR-on-chip sensing system. This will enable a new scientific and engineering paradigm to revitalize the biomagnetism field as an alternative way to understand the underlying mechanism of the human body

Portable Bio-Devices: Design of Electrochemical Instruments from Miniaturized to Implantable Devices

The integration of biosensors and electronic technologies allows the development of biomedical systems able to diagnose and monitoring pathologies by detecting specific biomarkers. The chapter presents the main modules involved in the development of such devices, generically represented in Fig. 1, and focuses its attention on the essential components of these systems to address questions such as: how is the device powered? How does it communicate the measured data? What kind of sensors could be used?, and What kinds of electronics are used