High-CMRR low-noise fully integrated front-end for EEG acquisition systems

Abstract

We present in this paper a fully integrated low-noise high common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) logarithmic programmable gain amplifier (LPGA) and chopped LPGA circuits for EEG acquisition systems. The proposed LPGA is based on a rail-to-rail true logarithmic amplifier (TLA) stage. The high CMRR achieved in this work is a result of cascading three amplification stages to construct the LPGA in addition to the lower common-mode gain of the proposed logarithmic amplification topology. In addition, the 1/ f noise and the inherent DC offset voltage of the input transistors are reduced using a chopper stabilization technique. The CMOS 180 nm standard technology is used to implement the circuits. Experimental results for the integrated LPGA show a CMRR of 140 dB, a differential gain of 37 dB, an input-referred noise of 0.754 µVrms, a 189 µW power consumption from 1.8 V power supply and occupies an active area of 0.4 mm2.