Evaluation of non-contact flexible electrodes connected with a customized IC-steps towards a fully integrated ECG sensor

This study investigates the performance of a noncontact capacitive bioelectric sensor for electrocardiogram (ECG) measurement. A straightforward comparison is made on the measured ECG signals using conventional pre-gelled electrodes and the developed non-contact electrodes on a hairy chest, with the same bio-sensing readout circuits. The measurement results show that pre-gelled electrodes have difficulties in the measurement of ECG signal from a hairy chest. A pair of non-contact electrodes are designed and implemented on flexible copper foil. With the help of high performance readout circuits, ECG signal is successfully measured via implemented non-contact electrodes from a hairy chest. Discussions are made based on the preliminary in-vivo measurement results. It is believed that this non-contact ECG measurement approach brings a promising solution for the future fully integrated wearable ECG sensors.