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An ultra-low-noise electrical-potential probe for human-body scanning

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2000 Meas. Sci. Technol. 11 291

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Meas. Sci. Technol. 11 (2000) 291–297. Printed in the UK PII: S0957-0233(00)09206-7

An ultra-low-noise electrical-potential
probe for human-body scanning
R J Prance, A Debray, T D Clark, H Prance, M Nock, C J Harland
and A J Clippingdale
Physical Electronics Group, School of Engineering, University of Sussex, Brighton,
Sussex BN1 9QT, UK
E-mail: t.d.clark@sussex.ac.uk and r.j.prance@sussex.ac.uk

Received 2 November 1999, in final form and accepted for publication 13 January 2000

Abstract. In this paper we describe a new very-low-noise, high-input-impedance probe

developed to make non-contact measurements of electrical potentials generated by currents
flowing in the human body. With a noise level of 2 µV Hz−1/2 at 1 Hz, down to
0.1 µV Hz−1/2 at 1 kHz, and an operational bandwidth from 0.01 Hz to 100 KHz, this probe
would seem well suited to the detection of a wide range of electrical activity in the body.

Keywords: electrical field strength, electrical potential, charge (Coulomb) meter,

human-body imager, monitoring human-body electrical activity

1. Introduction
In previous work [1–3] we described the use of a high-input-
impedance electrical potential probe to make non-contact
electrical measurements of the human body. We introduced
this probe precisely to overcome limitations associated with
conventional electrocardiographic (ECG) sensors. There
were two key features in its design. First, it operated on
displacement, not real charge, current. This eliminated
the need to make direct electrical contact with the body.
For comparison, conventional ECG sensors always need to
maintain this good electrical contact with the body. In its
practical embodiment [1, 2] the probe was positioned off the
body at a distance of 3 mm, with a body-to-probe capacitance
of 7 pF. Second, the high input impedance of the probe (a few
times 1012  at 1 Hz) ensured that the surface of the body, as
the source, was not loaded down.
Surface potentials due to heart currents are spatio-
temporal in nature. In conventional ECG work a single sensor
(plus one or more reference electrodes) is used to record
temporal information which changes with its location on the
surface of the body. Clearly, in this electrical technique the
functioning of the heart can best be analysed by recording
all of the relevant potential information on this surface, i.e.
by constructing a body-surface-potential map (BSPM). In
principle, this entails making a time record of the potential
at each point on the surface. In practice, of course, we are
constrained to accept finite spatial resolution. Even so, to
obtain a satisfactory resolution (say 1 cm to a few centimetres)
means that we must make use of a large number of separate
sensor probes. If these are conventional in nature (as is
the case for BSPM), each sensor must make low-resistance
contact with the skin. This low resistance is achieved by using
a high-conductivity electrolytic paste as the interface between
the sensor and the skin. Clearly, the preparation of an array of
in-contact BPSM sensors is time consuming. Furthermore,
since it is difficult to keep the conducting-paste interfaces
entirely separate in an array of sensors, cross coupling
between neighbouring sensors (through leakage currents)
is common. These problems are eliminated completely if
displacement-current electrical-potential probes are used. By
way of illustration, we have already published an example
of non-invasive electrical-potential-probe heart imaging,
utilizing an array of 25 elements (plus a separate, independent
array of eight elements when required) [1].
In this earlier work [1–4] we were able to engineer
very substantial improvements in the input impedance and
noise performance of an electrometer-grade operational
amplifier (an OPA 111) by using this in a stable buffer-
amplifier configuration with precisely unity gain. The
basis of these improvements was a combination of well-
known guarding techniques and novel feedback circuits.
In particular, we were able to make the effective (i.e.
electronically manipulated) input impedance as high as
1016  [3], corresponding to an input capacitance close to
10−17 F. In this [4], and other, previous designs it was always
necessary to stabilize the operating point of the operational
amplifier at zero frequency by providing an internal source of
dc bias current within the probe. We were able to achieve this
without making any compromises in the input impedance of
the probe within its operating bandwidth (typically 0.01 Hz
to 50 kHz). A block diagram of the probe, including the dc
biasing circuit, is shown in figure 1. With this configuration
it is apparent that the probe is acting as a voltmeter. A typical
measured noise-voltage spectral plot for this type of probe is
shown in figure 2 for two values [2] (approximately 0.2 and
1 pF) of source–probe capacitance.

0957-0233/00/030291+07$30.00 © 2000 IOP Publishing Ltd 291

R J Prance et al
Figure 1. A block diagram of the earlier version of the
electrical-potential probe [3] based on the OPA 111, including the
input-bias current circuit.
Working with probes designed especially for heart
imaging [1, 2] (i.e. with input electrode areas for the probe
electronics of about 3 cm2 and a probe-input capacitance
close to 1 pF) we were able to establish a noise performance
in the very low audio range (0.1–100 Hz) which was adequate
for detecting heart signals. This noise (referred to the
input) was 30 µV Hz−1/2 at 1 Hz. For most routine heart
diagnostics this is sufficient, providing, as it does, a 30:1
signal-to-noise ratio for peak heart signals [5] (around 1 mV).
However, the electrical potentials generated by the body can
vary widely [5, 6], with the generally accepted minimum
(≈10 µV) arising from foetal heart action [5]. Hence,
there is a clear need for a non-contact sensor with a noise
level close to 1 µV Hz−1/2 at 1 Hz. By taking advantage
of our previous experience, we have been able to create
the basic circuit building block for a new series of non-
invasive electrical sensors. Using currently available, state-
of-the-art, electronic components we have developed a new
sensor amplifier with extremely accurate guarding. This
has both a low input capacitance (≈1 pF) and a low noise
level (2 µV Hz−1/2 at 1 Hz). Compared with previous
configurations, it has the added advantages of a simpler
design, with fewer components, and with all problems of
stability and drift eliminated. We should also add that, just
like in the previous work reported in the literature [1], we
have not come across any disadvantages in using electrical-
potential probes for human-body scanning. These probes are
truly non-invasive, drawing no real current, their coupling
efficiency can be essentially perfect and they have a very
much lower noise level than do conventional ECG sensors.
2. Ultra-low-noise probes
2.1. Design and construction
The electrical-potential probe, such as that depicted in figure
1, is clearly a significant advance over conventional ECG
sensors. Even so, there is a quite obvious need for better
noise performance. As we have discovered, the noise level
in the probe can be reduced by increasing the resistance R of
the input-bias-stabilization network, as shown in figure 1. In
figure 3 we show our measured output noise voltage at 1 Hz
for the OPA 111-based probe as a function of R. We have
identified this noise as being derived from the current noise in
292
the√stabilization network. Hence, it should be proportional to
1/ R, which it is over most of the resistance range displayed
in figure 3. For example, at R = 1011  the noise has reduced
to 5.5 µV Hz−1/2 . Unfortunately, resistors with resistances >
1011 , with both small tolerances (i.e. a few per cent) and
stability, do not exist. Thus, these extremely large resistances
often vary by up to 50% from sample to sample; furthermore,
these resistors are not temperature stable. However, we have
made a spot noise measurement on the OPA 111-based system
using a (quoted) 1012  resistor of the glass-encapsulated,
carbon-film type, this being the highest-resistance resistor
we have been able to obtain commercially. The data √ point,
shown in figure 3, lies close to, but not on, the 1/ R line,
which we assume to be due to the uncertainty in the value of
the resistance. Clearly, from the trend shown by the first four
data points in figure√ 3 the noise level at 1 Hz appears to be
proportional to 1/ R, as one would expect. On this basis
the minimum noise level would be achieved if we could set
R → ∞.
By definition, an R = ∞ input resistance would make
the input impedance of the amplifier purely capacitive. Now,
in principle the FET at the front end of an ideal operational
amplifier has a purely capacitive input impedance. This
implies that, provided that we can dispense with the input
bias network, we should be able to construct a charge
amplifier (coulombmeter) which responds to arbitrarily low
frequencies (i.e. down to dc), rather than a voltmeter with
a built in low-frequency roll off. In practice, however,
there will always be a finite on-chip leakage current which
will act to prevent this situation from being realized. In
general, in the absence of an input bias network, the gate
of the FET will charge via the leakage-current path and
eventually cause the amplifier to saturate (usually after only
a few seconds). Previous attempts at producing high-input-
impedance amplifiers [1–4] have, to a large extent, relied
on the use of precise guarding techniques to minimize the
effects of these leakage currents and so reduce the restrictions
imposed by the presence of an input bias network. Recently,
however, a new generation of operational amplifiers which
extends the capabilities of guarding techniques with the
provision of on-chip guarding facilities has become available.
To the best of our knowledge, the best example is the Burr-
Brown INA 116 dual-input, instrumentation amplifier. We
have incorporated this amplifier into a planar configured
probe circuit which has been designed by us to extend the on-
chip guarding to the external input electrode structure. This
design has proved to be very successful and we are now able
to operate the INA 116-based probe as an unconditionally
stable charge amplifier for long periods of time (≈24 h)
without any provision for input bias current. This is in
stark contrast to the best of the previous generation of
electrometer amplifiers such as the OPA 111 which, in our
experience, cannot be stabilized in this way. Indeed, for
the latter amplifier, stable operation in the absence of a
bias network is conditional upon maintaining very precise
supply voltages, even for relatively short time periods ('1 h).
Furthermore, the INA 116 amplifier has a quoted open-circuit
input impedance of 1015  in parallel with about 1 pF and a
quoted spot-noise level at this frequency of 2 µV Hz−1/2 .
Our choice of the INA 116 for all of the coulombmeter-
configuration work described in this paper was based on its
 An ultra-low-noise probe

Figure 2. The noise-voltage spectral density of the OPA 111-based probe of figure 1 with input-electrode arrangements giving
source–probe coupling capacitances of approximately 0.2 and 1 pF [4].

Figure 3. A plot of the probe-output noise voltage at 1 Hz versus the bias-stabilization-network resistance R for the OPA 111-based system.
The 1012  data point was taken using a glass-encapsulated, carbon-film, resistor.

noise performance, high input impedance, on-chip guarding,
superior (unconditional) stability and extended frequency
response. A block diagram of the INA 116, configured as a
charge (coulombmeter) amplifier, is shown in figure 4, with
the signal applied to the non-inverting input and the inverting
input grounded. It can be seen here that, although guarding
is applied to both inputs, the inverting input is treated as a
dummy (i.e. grounded). However, this inverting amplifier,
on-chip with its non-inverting dual, plays an essential role.
The quality of the fabrication of the chip is such that the
effects of low-frequency fluctuations and drift (thermally or
otherwise induced) are almost exactly balanced out between
the inputs. This makes the INA 116 a very suitable amplifier
for our purposes.
The coulombmeter (INA 116-based) probe was
constructed using modern surface-mounting techniques.
This allowed us to extend and maintain the level of on-
chip guarding through to the input-electrode structure. In

293
R J Prance et al
Figure 4. The block diagram of the INA 116, configured as a charge amplifier, with the signal applied to the non-inverting input and the
inverting input grounded.
practice, this hybrid guarding could be made so accurate
that, to an extremely high degree, leakage-current paths could
be eliminated. In the actual embodiment a double-sided
printed-circuit-board layout was selected with the bottom
(reverse) face used as a guard plane while the top face was
configured as a guarded input-electrode structure. As shown
in the layout of figure 5, with the INA 116 amplifier surface
mounted, guard tracks were provided either side of the input
electrode and maintained over the entire circuit board. This
planar design (top-surface tracks and reverse plane) provided
a remarkably high degree of guarding and shielding. The
design was implemented using a software package (IsoPro)
and cut using a Quick Circuit 5000 PCB milling machine
(T-Tech, Inc). The use of a milling machine ensured that
the electrical-insulation properties of the circuit board were
not compromised by wet chemical etching. Naively, without
this extremely accurate guarding, we would have expected
the leakage to be that quoted by the manufacturer ('3 fA).
However, as we shall see, the actual leakage current is
negligible on the scale of femto-amperes.
3. The probe performance
In order to demonstrate unambiguously that the INA
116-based probe was functioning as a charge amplifier
(coulombmeter) a dc voltage was applied to its (non-
inverting) input through a 10 pF capacitor; the response with
time was then measured. In figure 6 we show a record
of this output taken over 15 h with a stabilized dc voltage
of 10 V applied to the input. During this time the output
from the source was monitored and remained within ±5 mV
at all times. As can be seen, with some fluctuations the
output remains that of the input over very long time scales.
This is the result to be expected if the probe is acting as a
coulombmeter, measuring charge rather than voltage, with
a concomitant frequency response flat down to dc. It is
apparent from figure 6 that this is the case. In figure 7(a)
we show the measured frequency response for the INA 116
294
probe (figure 4) over the range 1 mHz to 100 kHz. Here,
it is clear that the response is flat down to 30 mHz, with a
slight and irregular rise (<2 dB) from 30 to 1 mHz. That
the output remains stable over 15 h (>50 000 s) in figure 6
indicates that this response continues down to at least 20 µHz.
If required, the low-frequency rise below 30 mHz can be
truncated by imposing a high-pass filter (3 dB point at 0.1 Hz)
on the output of the probe (figure 7(b)). For comparison, we
show in figure 8 the frequency response of the OPA 111-
based probe (figure 1) acting as a voltmeter [1–4] (with a
few times 1012  input impedance at 1 Hz). From the first-
order roll off in this response around 100 mHz, it is obvious
that the input impedance of this probe contains a resistive
component. This is in contrast to the purely capacitive input
to the INA 116-based probe configuration of figure 4. Using
a potential-divider-based technique, with a 10 pF series input
to the probe, we found that its input capacitance was close to
1 pF (corresponding to an input impedance >1012  at 1 Hz).
The improvement in noise performance of the INA 116-
based system compared with previous probes is striking. All
noise measurements were carried out using a HP 3562A
signal analyser in logarithmic resolution mode. A ×10 low-
voltage noise preamplifier was inserted between the probe
and the signal analyser. This ensured that the probe noise
was well above the noise floor of the HP 3562A. In figure 9
we show the noise response referred to the input (the noise
spectral density) between 1 Hz and 100 kHz. As can be seen,
the input noise voltage at 1 Hz is 2 µV Hz−1/2 , reducing
to 0.2 µV Hz−1/2 at 100 Hz. At 1 Hz this constitutes a
factor of 15 improvement over the OPA 111-based voltmeter
design, quite sufficient to make almost all of the electrical
activity known to occur in the human body accessible in
real time. We note that, although 1 Hz is clearly within
the 1/f -noise regime in figure 9, the noise level is still only
10 µV Hz−1/2 at 0.1 Hz (not shown). Quite obviously,
to make use of this noise performance the quasi-dc drift
in the probe has to be very small. As we have already
pointed out, this certainly requires that the guarding on the
 An ultra-low-noise probe

Figure 5. The printed-circuit-board layout of the INA 116-based probe, designed with IsoPro software and machined on a Quick Circuit
5000 PCB milling machine (copper tracks are shown shaded).

(a)
Figure 6. A plot of the long-time-scale (≈15 h) output-voltage
response of a coulombmeter configuration probe with 10 V of dc
offset applied to its (non-inverting) input.

amplifier be efficient so that, to an extremely high degree,

leakage-current paths (and accompanying fluctuations) can
be eliminated. It is also necessary that drift and low-
frequency noise due to temperature fluctuations in the
environment be minimized. Again, as we have discussed
above, the quality and uniformity of the on-chip processing
in the fabrication of the INA 116 instrumentation amplifier
allow us to null out (differentially compensate) almost all
of these fluctuation problems. With a combination of both
measures, fluctuations and drift can be kept to a minimum.
In figure 10 we show the dc drift, referred to the input,
over the settling period of the probe immediately after it (b)
has been turned on. After 40 min this is down to less than Figure 7. (a) The frequency response from 1 mHz to 100 kHz
2.5 mV min−1 . On much longer time scales, i.e. after settling, (full line) using the INA 116-based probe configuration of figure 4.
(b) The truncated response of the probe with a high-pass (0.1 Hz
this drift is very much lower, i.e. as shown in figure 11. It
roll off) filter on its output.
is apparent that this drift is typically less than 2.5 mV h−1 .
We note that the data of figures 11 and 7(a) imply that the
4. Conclusions
effective leakage current for the INA 116-based probe is less
than 10−18 A.
In this paper we have shown that it is possible to design and
As an illustration of the use of the INA 116-based system construct a high-impedance electric-potential probe, based
in non-invasive detection of human-body electrical activity, on the INA 116 instrumentation amplifier, with a noise
we show in figure 12 an ECG taken above the surface of the level of 2 µV Hz−1/2 at 1 Hz. This represents a very
chest of a student subject with, as previously [1, 2], the chest considerable improvement on that achieved (30 µV Hz−1/2
surface and the probe input electrode separated by 3 mm of at 1 Hz) using previous designs. At this noise level it should
rubber. prove possible to resolve even the smallest electrical signals

295
R J Prance et al
Figure 8. The frequency response of the OPA 111-based
electrical-potential probe of figure 1 over the range 0.01 Hz to
1 MHz.
Figure 9. The noise voltage spectral density (1 Hz to 100 kHz) of
the INA 116-based probe.
Figure 10. The quasi-dc settling curve for the INA 116-based
probe; the drift after 40 min is <2.5 mV min−1 .
generated by the body (for example, the foetal heartbeat
at around 10 µV peak signal in, say, an integrated RMS
noise of 6 µV from 2 to 100 Hz (figure 9)). We have also
296
Figure 11. The quasi-dc drift curve for the INA 116-based probe
taken over 26 h; typically the drift is <2.5 mV h−1 .
Figure 12. A time-domain plot (ECG) of the electrical potential
above the surface of the chest of a student subject using the INA
116-based probe with 3 mm of rubber insulation between this
surface and the input electrode of the probe.
shown that, using the INA 116, the probe can be arranged
to have a purely capacitive input. This allows it to function
as a coulombmeter with a frequency response down to dc.
As an additional advantage, it is easy to provide an INA
116-based probe system with extremely efficient guarding
and shielding. This has allowed us to operate the INA 116
probe in a coulombmeter configuration with negligible input
leakage current. This, combined with the inherent on-chip
balancing of the input amplifier blocks of the INA 116,
means that drift and fluctuation effects can be kept very
small. The currently attained noise level can certainly be
reduced to 1 µV Hz−1/2 , without seriously compromising
performance, by implementing modest increases in coupling
(i.e. the input capacitance) between the body and the probe.
However, much more substantial improvements in noise
performance can be achieved by introducing gain into the
probe. Preliminary measurements indicate that with a voltage
gain factor of ten, we can reach a noise level close to
200 nV Hz−1/2 at 1 Hz. We are now working on the feedback
networks [1–3] for this probe, which will allow us to produce
an electrometer with a stable output for use in future non-
invasive cardiac-data-acquisition studies.

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the UK Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council for its generous funding of this
work.
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Ultrahigh impedance capacitively coupled heart imaging
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An ultra-low-noise probe
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