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A near-infrared heart-rate measurement IC that processes the photoplethysmographic signal was designed using a 0.35-μm CMOS technology. The IC consists of a current-to-voltage (I-V) converter, a buffer, a sample-and-hold circuit, a second-order continuous-time low-pass filter (CT-LPF), a comparator, and a timing circuit that is used to pulse the external light-emitting diode with a very low duty cycle to reduce its power consumption. The current steering technique is employed in the design of the CT-LPF to meet the requirement for very low cutoff frequency. The circuit operates from a 3-V lithium battery, occupies a core area of 0.46 mm² and has a power consumption of 4.5 mW The measurement results corroborate with simulation results and show that the CT-LPF can achieve a cutoff frequency of as low as 0.25 Hz. This demonstrates the feasibility of current steering technique in the design of filter for low-frequency application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]