A low power frequency-programmable stimulation circuit for small rodent pacemaker

This article presents the design of an integrated, frequency-programmable stimulation circuit dedicated to small rodents for the study of pulmonary arterial hypertension. A complete architecture of the stimulation circuit is proposed, based on in vivo tests that have led to the stimulation waveform specification. The circuit is designed using XFAB 0.18 µm technology. The adopted design methodology allows to reduce the power consumption of command blocks to the minimum. Post-layout simulation results shows that the pacing rate can be tuned from 450 to 600 beats per minute (bpm). The total power consumption of the stimulation circuit is 196.1 µW, with 186 µW directly consumed by the voltage multipliers, H-Bridge and pacemaker load, 10.1 µW by the kilohertz-range VCO driver, and only 8.4 nW by the ultra-low power command generator.