A simple and reproducible capacitive electrode

• Bootstrapping techniques, with current low offset voltage CMOS operational amplifiers, allow implement capacitive electrodes with standard components and Printed Circuit Board materials, and fulfilling ECG transient response requirements.
• The complete circuit of the capacitive electrode is presented.
• The proposed circuit, with a minimal number of parts, also provides a fast recovery feature.

Capacitive Electrodes (CE) allow the acquisition of biopotentials through a dielectric layer, without the use of electrolytes, just by placing them on skin or clothing, but demands front-ends with ultra-high input impedances. This must be achieved while providing a path for bias currents, calling for ultra-high value resistors and special components and construction techniques. A simple CE that uses bootstrap techniques to avoid ultra-high value components and special materials is proposed. When electrodes are placed on the skin; that is, with coupling capacitances CS of around 100 pF, they present a noise level of 3.3 µVRMS in a 0.5–100 Hz bandwidth, which is appropriate for electrocardiography (ECG) measurements. Construction details of the CE and the complete circuit, including a fast recovery feature, are presented.