MEMS-based flexible capacitive electrode for ECG measurement

A thin and flexible capacitive electrode for recording an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal has been developed. Compared with the conventional wet electrode, the capacitive electrode can work without conductive gel and skin preparation, and serves as a tool of long-term ECG measurement. The designed electrode consists of a sensing plate, an active shield plate and two insulating layers, which is fabricated by the micro-electro-mechanical system process. The test result shows that the capacitive electrode can obtain a high-quality ECG signal that is comparable to the one recorded by the conventional wet electrode. The capacitive electrode can be arbitrarily bent to fit the human torso because of its extremely thin and flexible feature. Moreover, a simple front-end circuit is used to integrate more easily into the measurement system.