CMOS Low Current Measurement System for Biomedical Applications

We present a micro-chip implementation of a low current measurement system for biomedical applications using capacitive feedback that exhibits 190 fA of RMS noise in a 1 kHz bandwidth. The sampling rate is selectable up to 100 kHz. When measuring the amplifier noise with a 10 G Ω resistor and a 47 pF capacitor at the input, typical of cell membrane capacitance in DNA and patch clamp experiments, the measured RMS noise was 2.44 pA on a 50 pA signal in a 10 kHz bandwidth. Two channels were implemented on 630 × 440 μm² using a 0.5- μm 3-metal 2-poly CMOS process. Each channel consumes 1.5 mW of power from a 3.3 V supply. We measured the characteristics of an artificial lipid bilayer similar to the ones used in DNA sequencing experiments via nanopores.