ISSN: 2278 909X

International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)

Volume 5, Issue 7, July 2016

A CMOS Instrumentation Amplifier for EEG

front end system
Anuj Singh Yadav, D.K.Mishra

filter low pass filter, and differential amplifier stages.

AbstractThis paper subjects to an application of
instrumentation amplifier, which is a low frequency device
EEG (electroencephalogram). As EEG signals are exhibiting
the frequency range of 1Hz to 200Hz, we have designed a
bandpass filter within an instrumentation amplifier itself,
using 180 nm technology. It consists of the same band of low
frequency with high CMRR of 77 dB, low input referred noise
of 1.977 micro-volt per Hz, and with a good linearity input
referred IIP3 of 29 dBm. The IA covers the minimum area of
0.006600 mm-square.

Index TermsEEG (electroencephalogram), IIP3 (Input

intercept point), IA (instrumentation amplifier), linearity.

I. INTRODUCTION
An instrumentation amplifier is a type of differential
amplifier that has been outfitted with input buffer amplifiers,
which eliminate the need for input impedance matching and
thus make the amplifier particularly suitable for use in
measurement and test equipment. Additional characteristics
include very low DC offset, low drift, low noise, very Fig. 1 Block diagram of proposed instrumentation amplifier.
high open-loop gain, very high common-mode rejection
Each of the electrode is connected to one input of
ratio, and very high input impedances. Instrumentation
a differential amplifier (differential inputs); a common
amplifiers are used where great accuracy and stability of the
system reference electrode is connected to the other input of
circuit both short and long-term are required.
each differential amplifier. This instrumentation amplifier
Electroencephalography (EEG) is will now amplify and boost up the weak signals coming from
an electrophysiological monitoring method to record electrodes. Voltage gain observed during simulation is up to
electrical activity of the brain. It is typically non-invasive, 60 to 80 dB. A typical adult human EEG signal ranges about
with the electrodes placed along the scalp, although invasive 10 V to 100 V in amplitude when it is measured and
electrodes are sometimes used in specific applications. EEG observed through scalp and is about 1020 mV when
measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic measured from subdural electrodes.
current within the neurons of the brain. In clinical contexts,
EEG refers to the recording of the brain's spontaneous To detect such a small range input signals in the presence
electrical activity over a period of time, as recorded from of high flicker noise there is a need of an instrumentation
multiple electrodes placed on the scalp [18]. amplifier with high CMRR and low noise. This paper has a
In this paper a CMOS instrumentation amplifier of an total of five sections. Section I concludes with the
analog front-end section of an EEG system is presented. introduction of EEG and instrumentation amplifier, section
Besides the band-pass filter, the important points are high II accounts for the related works in this area so far, section III
common mode rejection ratio (CMRR), very low noise, high shows the complete schematic of instrumentation amplifier
linearity and minimum area of designing. used and the working frequency waves (which has to be
passed), section IV is about all simulation and observed
This amplifier includes the following blocks as shown in fig.
results of the IA and finally section V with a brief conclusion.
1 two transconductance stages, current mirrors, high pass

Manuscript received July, 2016.

II. RELATED WORKS & BACKGROUND
1. Anuj Singh Yadav, Student, M. Tech, Electronics & Instrumentation Andreas et al. [17] developed an instrumentation
Department, Shri G.S. Institute of Technology and Science, 23 park road
Indore, India.
amplifier with CMRR intended for imaging of cancer
2. D.K.Mishra Professor & Head, Electronics & Instrumentation Department, biomarkers. Local current feedback IA topology, each local
Shri G.S. Institute of Technology and Science, 23 park road Indore, India

2029
All Rights Reserved 2016 IJARECE
 ISSN: 2278 909X
International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)
Volume 5, Issue 7, July 2016

loop contains a smaller number of internal parasitic poles motor behavior and is generally attenuated during active
and thus, this topology potentially offers a higher operating movements. Low amplitude beta with multiple and varying
BW for a given current consumption. One advantage of the frequencies is often associated with active, busy or anxious
current mirror load over the resistor load implementation is thinking and active concentration.
insensitivity to the input offset voltage of the sensing (or
loop) amplifier connected across the input and output nodes
of the current mirror load.
R.Martin et al. [7] presents an instrumentation amplifier
for EEG acquisition system which draws 500 A current Fig. (c) Beta waves[18]
only. This system consists of the MUX, programmable gain
amplifier, a calibration oscillator and an instrumentation Gamma is the frequency range approximately 30100 Hz.
amplifier. This full custom design gives the solution for Gamma rhythms are thought to represent binding of different
flicker noise problem. populations of neurons together into a network for the
Witte et al. [4] provides the two different current feedback purpose of carrying out a certain cognitive or motor function.
approaches. One is indirect current feedback instrumentation
amplifier in which the input common mode voltage signal
and reference common mode signal are independent of each
other. This comes at the cost of an increased current
dissipation. Therefore, the direct current feedback Fig. (d) Gamma waves[18]
instrumentation amplifier is used where both common mode Mu ranges 813 Hz, and partly overlaps with other
voltages are dependent, & low power dissipation is required. frequencies. It reflects the synchronous firing of motor
Indirect current feedback is used where linearity and neurons in rest state. Mu suppression is thought to reflect
accuracy is required. motor mirror neuron systems, because when an action is
observed, the pattern extinguishes, possibly because of the
III. METHODOLOGY
normal neuronal system and the mirror neuron system "go
Brain neurons contains various bands, which are present out of sync", and interfere with each other.
at the low frequency, they are categorized and given below:
Delta is the frequency range up to 4 Hz. It tends to be the Fig 2. Shows the schematic diagram of proposed
highest in amplitude and the slowest waves. It is seen Instrumentation amplifier, with inbuilt band-pass filter. It
normally in adults in slow wave sleep. It is also seen normally consists of the few processing blocks such as input stage,
in babies. low-pass filter, transconductance stage (GM), high pass
Theta is the frequency range from 4 Hz to 7 Hz. Theta is filter, current mirror load and output stage.
seen normally in young children. It may be seen in
drowsiness or arousal in older children and adults; it can also
be seen in meditation. Excess theta for age represents
abnormal activity.

Fig. (a) Theta waves[18]

Alpha is the frequency range from 7 Hz to 14 Hz. Hans

Berger named the first rhythmic EEG activity he saw as the
"alpha wave". This was the "posterior basic rhythm" (also
called the "posterior dominant rhythm" or the "posterior
alpha rhythm"), seen in the posterior regions of the head on
both sides, higher in amplitude on the dominant side. It
emerges with closing of the eyes and with relaxation, and
attenuates with eye opening or mental exertion.

Fig. (b) Alpha waves[18]

Fig. 2 schematic diagram of proposed IA
Beta is the frequency range from 15 Hz to about 30 Hz. It
is seen usually on both sides in symmetrical distribution and
The GM stage uses a current mirror load and source
is most evident frontally. Beta activity is closely linked to
network, differential amplifiers outputs serves exactly to

2030
All Rights Reserved 2016 IJARECE
 ISSN: 2278 909X
International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)
Volume 5, Issue 7, July 2016
maintain and balance the drain currents of input and output more in case of 60 dB gain as compared to 80 dB. As gain
stages. Since the opposite face input transistors are identical increases stability decreases. Hence trade-off between gain
and same current is drawn across their drain terminal, the and stability is kept in mind, while designing this EEG based
input voltage drop across R1. At the output transconductance Instrumentation amplifier.
stage, same drain currents are drawn at the differential pairs
of output terminal. As a result output voltage V0 appears at IV. SIMULATIONS AND RESULTS

the output resistance R2 (shown in low-pass block). Placing a

capacitor C1 across R2 will create a dominant pole, which
sets the higher 3dB frequency of the IA (C1 and R1 acts as a
low-pass circuit).
The purpose of designing the band-pass filter is to reduce
the unwanted spectrum in the form of noise. With this band
of 0.3 Hz to 250 Hz only desired signal would be allow to pass
and rest of the spectrum is removed. The low-pass filter, a
capacitor C1 and a resistor R1 is connected in parallel, which
causes a pole at :
Fh = 1/ (2**R1*C1)

The high-pass filter is more difficult to obtain from the

passive R and C action simultaneously for such a low Fig. 3 gain v/s frequency curve.
frequency of 1 Hz. So a another feedback loop around the
This region the IA is stable i.e from 0.3 to 250 Hz which is
output circuit is implemented. Fig. 2 shows the GM filter
good enough for detecting the small signals. The above graph
which acts as a resistor, but it offers advantages over a real
clearly shows for lower values of R1, the gain is 60 dB but we
resistor. As it is possible to make its transconductance low, a
have to trade off between gain and stability here. Thus we
high identical equivalent resistor can be obtained. Also there
cannot reduce R1 below 100 ohm (R1 is the input stage
is no resistive loading of the output of the output. Hence a
resistance as shown in fig. 2) The above gain will boost up
zero is obtained at frequency (lower 3dB cut-off frequency):
the small micro volts signals from the electrodes and will
allow the device to compare the signals with actual EEG
Fl = GM/ (2**Cfilter)
waves.
To improve the CMRR and low input referred noise the
input transistors were made to work in moderate inversion
mode. For a proper matching of devices both W and L , width
and length of the input transistor are larger than minimum
feature size.
The load transistors at the bottom of input stage are
designed according to its transconductance, which should be
three times more than that of input transistors.

Current feedback IA there are few number of internal

parasitic poles and thus this circuit offers a higher 3dB
frequency and operating bandwidth. While in case of other
feedback such as direct and indirect feedback [4] there are
more number of poles associated with each stage and hence
operating bandwidth reduces.
Circuit is designed in virtuoso design environment, using Fig.4 CMRR calculation of proposed IA.
180nm technology. Library files included is UMC18CMOS
technology files, all the components are placed from the same CMRR = (Ad / Ac)
library files. Three terminal resistors and capacitors are used Where Ad is differential gain and Ac is common mode gain.
and 3rd terminal is connected to VDD as body is of P-type. The common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of
Total of 29 MOS with 2 resistors and 3 capacitors are a differential amplifier (or other device) measures the ability
required with a power supply of 1.8V. Further for of the device to reject common-mode signals, those that
calculations of IIP3 and intermodulation terms separate ports appear simultaneously and in-phase on both amplifier inputs.
are applied. Harmonic balance analysis is done using two An ideal differential amplifier would have infinite CMRR;
ports at input and output terminal respectively .
this is not achievable in practice. Calculating CMRR from fig
Fig 3 shows the band-pass output response of the proposed
4 we get, CMRR at 3dB cut-off frequency = 60-[-17]. Hence
IA. Here we have to take 60 dB gain in account, rather than
CMRR = 77 dB which is good at this frequency (which is one
80 dB. The reason behind this is the stability, which is much

2031
All Rights Reserved 2016 IJARECE
 ISSN: 2278 909X
International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)
Volume 5, Issue 7, July 2016

of the target result).

Moving towards the stability criterion, both phase and Intermodulation arises when more than one tone is
gain margin is positive for this gain of 60 dB, which is also present at the input. A common method for analyzing this
an important factor in designing of circuits. distortion is the two-tone test. We assume that two strong
interferers occur at the input of the receiver, specified by s(t)
= A1cosw1t + A2cosw2t. Here we applied f1 = 100Hz and f2 =
90 Hz. Intermodulation distortion is defined as the ratio of
the amplitude of third order harmonics to the amplitude of
first order harmonics. So from fig. 6 we are getting the
desired signal in the frequency f = 100 + 3*90 and f = 100
3* 90. That is f= 370 Hz and 170 Hz. Amplitude next to this
frequency is first order intermodulation terms and next to
this is second order and so on.

Fig. 5 IIP3 analyses of bandpass filter in IA.

The intercept point is obtained graphically by plotting

the output power versus the input power both on logarithmic
scales (e.g., decibels) shown in fig 5. Two curves are drawn;
one for the linearly amplified signal at an input tone
frequency, one for a nonlinear product. Both curves are
extended with straight lines of slope 1 and n (3 for a
third-order intercept point). The point where the curves Fig. 7 input referred noise of the filter
intersect is the intercept point. It can be read off from the
input or output power axis, leading to input or output There is circuit noise internal to the subcomponents in the
intercept point, respectively (IIP3/OIP3). When comparing front end. This noise will add on to the AWGN, cause
systems or devices for linearity, then, a higher intercept point interference, and further degrade the SNR. Circuit noise is
is better. This device with an input-referred third-order associated with the electrical components that build the
intercept point of 15.39 dBm is driven with a test signal of subcomponents, such as resistors and MOS transistors. Fig 7
30 dBm. This power is 45.39 dB below the intercept point; shows the input referred noise is of 9.77V which is also low
therefore nonlinear products will appear at approximately required parameter of the filter.
2x45.39 dB below the test signal power at the device output
(in other words, 345.39 dB below the output-referred
third-order intercept point).

Fig.6 intermodulation terms of the simulated filter.

Fig. 8 layout area of the proposed IA

2032
All Rights Reserved 2016 IJARECE
 ISSN: 2278 909X
International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)
Volume 5, Issue 7, July 2016
[12]. H. Hong, M. Rahal, A. Demosthenous, and R. Bayford, Comparison of a
Fig 8 is the layout of IA with minimum area with no DRC new integrated current source with the modified Howland circuit for EIT
applications, Physiol. Meas., vol. 30, no. 10, pp. 9991007, Oct. 2009.
errors. Resistors are placed apart from power supply in order [13] M. Rahal, A. Demosthenous, and R. Bayford, An integrated common
to achieve low mismatches and minimum resistive layers are mode feedback topology for multi-frequency bioimpedance imaging, in
used with proper design rules specifications. Proc. 35th Eur. Solid-State Circuits Conf. (ESSCIRC09), Athens,
Greece, pp. 416419.
Table 1 summary of the results obtained [14]. R. Bayford, Bioimpedance tomography (electrical impedance
tomography), Annu. Rev. Biomed. Eng., vol. 8, pp. 6391, Aug. 2006.
[15]. S. Grimns and . G. Martinsen, Bioimpedance & Bioelectricity Basics.
S.NO PARAMETERS RESULTS OBTAINED London, U.K.: Academic, 2000.
1. Process technology 180nm technology [16]. Analogue IC Design: The Current-Mode Approach, C. Toumazou, F. J.
2. CMRR 77 dB Lidgey, and D. G. Haigh, Eds. London, U.K.: Peter Peregrinus Ltd., 1990,
3. Differential gain 60 dB ch. 16, pp. 569595.
4. Common-mode gain -17 dB [17]. Apisak Worapishet, Andreas Demosthenous and Xiao liu, A CMOS
5. Slew Rate 38.3V/S Instrumentation Amplifier With 90-dB CMRR at 2-MHz Using Capacitive
6. Area 0.006600mm-sq Neutralization: Analysis, Design Considerations, and Implementation
7. Power dissipation 980w IEEE transactions on circuits and systemsi: regular papers, vol. 58, no.
8. Bandwidth 0.3-250 Hz 4, april 2011
9. Supply voltage 1.8V [18]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography#cite_note-55
10. Input referred noise 1.97V

Anuj singh Yadav born in Bilaspur, India in 1991. He

V. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE received the B.E. degree (first-class honors) from
Chhatrapati Shivaji Institute of Technology, Durg,
India, in 2013 in electronics and telecommunication
This paper provides the instrumentation amplifier for engineering. He is currently pursuing his MTech from
front end EEG system with high stability, linearity, low noise Shri Govind Ram Seksaria Institute of technology &
Scieence, Indore, India (2014-2016) in the field of
and good CMRR with inbuilt band-pass filter. This circuit microelectronics and VLSI design (Electronics &
plays a major role in getting high gain using Instrumentation). His current research interest includes
transconductance stage. CMOS mixed signal circuits, CMOS amplifiers for
biomedical applications, designing of filters for wireless receivers.
Use of this type of arrangement is further applied to
imaging instrumentation amplifiers [13]-[14] and in many Dr.D.K.Mishra received his B.E in Electronics and
front end section where impedance matching is required. communication, M.Tech in electrical and PhD in
electronics. He is currently serves as professor and
head, Electronics and Instrumentation department,
VI. REFERENCES Shri G.S.Institute of Science, 23 park road, indore.
[1]. B. D.Miller and R. L. Sample, Instrumentation amplifier IC designed for Moving towards membership; he is a life member of
oxygen sensor interface requirements, IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication
16, no. 6, pp. 677681, Dec. 1981. Engineers, Institution of engineers (India). His areas
[2]. V. Schaffer, M. F. Snoeij, M. V. Ivanov, and D. T. Trifonov, A 36 V of research includes design and performance
programmable instrumentation amplifier with sub-20 V offset and a evaluation of system on chip for biomedical signal processing, design of
CMRR in excess of 120 dB at all gain settings, IEEE J. Solid-State ultrawide band transreceiver chip, dynamic testing of high speed A/D converters
Circuits, vol. 44, no. 7, pp. 20362046, Jul. 2009. using noise as a stimuli, design and testing of low power and low noise static
[3]. J.-M. Redout and M. Steyaert, An instrumentation amplifier input circuit RAMs. He has published articles and papers in many journals.
with a high immunity to EMI, in Proc. 2008 Int. Symp. Electromagn.
CompatibilityEMC Eur., Hamburg, Germany, Sep. 2008, pp. 16.
[4]. J. F. Witte, J. H. Huijsing, and K. A. A. Makinwa, A current-feedback
instrumentation amplifier with 5 V offset for bidirectional highside
current-sensing, IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 43, no. 12, pp.
27692775, Dec. 2008.
[5]. M. Rahal and A. Demosthenous, A synchronous chopping demodulator
and implementation for high-frequency inductive position sensors, IEEE
Trans. Instrum.Meas., vol. 58, no. 10, pp. 36933701,Oct. 2009.
[6]. M. S. J. Steyaert, W. M. C. Sansen, and C. Zhongyuan, A micropower
low-noise monolithic instrumentation amplifier for medical purposes,
IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. SC-22, no. 6, pp. 11631168, Dec.
1987.
[7]. R. Martins, S. Selberherr, and F. A. Vaz, A CMOS IC for portable EEG
acquisition systems, IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., vol. 47, no. 5, pp.
11911196, Oct. 1998.
[8]. C.-J. Yen, W.-Y. Chung, and M. C. Chi, Micro-power low-offset
instrumentation amplifier IC design for biomedical system applications,
IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, Reg. Papers, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 691699,
Apr. 2004.
[9]. K. A. Ng and P. K. Chan, A CMOS analog front-end IC for portable
EEG/ECG monitoring applications, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, Reg.
Papers, vol. 52, no. 11, pp. 23352347, Nov. 2005.
[10]. R. F. Yazicioglu, P. Merken, R. Puers, and C. V. Hoof, A 60 W 60 nV Hz
readout front-end for portable biopotential acquisition systems, IEEE J.
Solid-State Circuits, vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 11001110, May 2007.
[11]. C.-C. Wang, C.-C. Huang, J.-S. Liou, Y.-J. Ciou, I-Y. Huang, C.-P. Li,
Y.-C. Lee, and W.-J.Wu, A mini-invasive long-term bladder urine
pressure measurement ASIC and system, IEEE Trans. Biomed. Circuits
Syst., vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 4449, Mar. 2008.

2033
All Rights Reserved 2016 IJARECE