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Degree

MS, University of Cincinnati, Engineering : Electrical Engineering, 2008.

Abstract

The primary goal of this research work is to amperometrically measure small current signals, in the range of pico-ampere to nano-ampere that are produced by electrolytic reactions of micro-electrode sensors. Two circuit designs viz. Type-I and Type-II have been described, which are capable of measuring such small current signals. Simulation results obtained from this thesis work predict the behavior of these circuits for three different technologies viz. AMI 1.5 micron, AMI 0.5 micron and TSMC 0.3 micron. These circuits were laid and fabricated through the MOSIS foundry service using the AMI 1.5 micron technology. The circuits were tested after fabrication and experimental results were reported illustrating the performance of these circuits in measuring small current signals. Type-I circuit was found to produce appreciable change in output voltage to detect currents of magnitude as low as 1nA. The sensitivity of the circuit for input currents varying from 1nA to 1uA was found to be reasonably high. The amperometric circuits described in this work occupy low area and also consume low power in the range of tens of milli-watts. The ability of these amperometric circuits to measure small signal currents coupled with low area and power consumption make them an integral part of any analog system with wide applications in medical and biological field as well as in optical sensor areas.

Subject Headings

Engineering

Keywords

Current Sensor; vlsi

Committee / Advisors

Dr. Fred Beyette (Committee Chair)
Dr. Hal Carter (Committee Member)
Dr. Carla Purdy (Committee Member)

Pages

85p.

Document number: ucin1205161608
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1205161608

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