title: A 0.7 V, 40 nW Compact, Current-Mode Neural Spike Detector in 65 nm CMOS.
abstract: In this paper, we describe a novel low power, compact, current-mode spike detector circuit for real-time neural recording systems where neural spikes or action potentials (AP) are of interest. Such a circuit can enable massive compression of data facilitating wireless transmission. This design can generate a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) output by approximating the popularly used nonlinear energy operator (NEO) through standard analog blocks. We show that a low pass filter after the NEO can be used for two functions-(i) estimate and cancel low frequency interference and (ii) estimate threshold for spike detection. The circuit is implemented in a 65 nm CMOS process and occupies 200 μm × 150 μ m of chip area. Operating from a 0.7 V power supply, it consumes about 30 nW of static power and 7 nW of dynamic power for 100 Hz input spike rate making it the lowest power consuming spike detector reported so far.
authors.forename: Enyi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Arindam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basu
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D044962:Data Compression; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio