Two-electrode low supply voltage electrocardiogram signal amplifier

Portable biomedical instrumentation has become an important part of diagnostic and treatment instrumentation, including telemedicine applications. Low-voltage and low-power design tendencies prevail. Modern battery cell voltages in the range of 3-3.6 V require appropriate circuit solutions. A two-electrode biopotential amplifier design is presented, with a high common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR), high input voltage tolerance and standard first-order high-pass characteristic. Most of these features are due to a high-gain first stage design. The circuit makes use of passive components of popular values and tolerances. Powered by a single 3 V source, the amplifier tolerates +/- 1 V common mode voltage, +/- 50 microA common mode current and 2 V input DC voltage, and its worst-case CMRR is 60 dB. The amplifier is intended for use in various applications, such as Holter-type monitors, defibrillators, ECG monitors, biotelemetry devices etc.