A VLSI-based biological interface for extracellular potentials

The authors describe the design of an IC-based interface from a living biological neuron to an arbitrary electromechanical device. Implemented on a custom VLSI IC, the circuit contains a high-gain buffer, band-pass filter, a neuron-like threshold discriminator, and a dedicated four-phase output driver for a stepper motor. The CMOS circuit is comprehensive, compact, noise immune, and very power efficient, making it appropriate for the control of robotic or prosthetic devices based on an extracellular activitiy in biological neurons.<>