A Hybrid Low Power Biopatch for Body Surface Potential Measurement

This paper presents a wearable biopatch prototype for body surface potential measurement. It combines three key technologies, including mixed-signal system on chip (SoC) technology, inkjet printing technology, and anisotropic conductive adhesive (ACA) bonding technology. An integral part of the biopatch is a low-power low-noise SoC. The SoC contains a tunable analog front end, a successive approximation register analog-to-digital converter, and a reconfigurable digital controller. The electrodes, interconnections, and interposer are implemented by inkjet-printing the silver ink precisely on a flexible substrate. The reliability of printed traces is evaluated by static bending tests. ACA is used to attach the SoC to the printed structures and form the flexible hybrid system. The biopatch prototype is light and thin with a physical size of 16 cm x 16 cm. Measurement results show that low-noise concurrent electrocardiogram signals from eight chest points have been successfully recorded using the implemented biopatch. QC 20130805. Updated from accepted to published.