A sub-1µW neural spike-peak detection and spike-count rate encoding circuit

In this paper we present a circuit for determining neural spike features such as peak occurrence, peak amplitude and spike count rate in continuous-time. The system achieves these functions concurrently and in real-time achieving an accuracy higher than a typical digital solution (constrained by the sampling time and/or resolution). For an average spike rate of 50spikes/s the system consumes 815nW designed in a commercially-available 0.18μm CMOS technology. The complete circuit core (excluding bondpads) occupies a total area of approximately 0.022mm².