A 2.6-µW sub-threshold mixed-signal ECG SoC

This paper describes a 0.13-µm CMOS sub-threshold (sub-VT) mixed-signal system-on-chip (SoC) that acquires and processes an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal for wireless ECG monitoring. The SoC uses a sub-threshold digital microcontroller (μC) for adaptive control of the sub-VT biased analog components and for processing the ECG data. The μC operates from 0.24 V to 1.2 V and consumes as little as 1.51 pJ per instruction. The SoC consumes only 2.6 µW while providing either heart rate or ECG data.