BM6504 Biomedical Instrumentation

Ms. Divya B AP/BME

 Types of Electrodes

2 v 1.2
 Body Surface Recording Electrodes
Electrode metal

Electrolyte

1. Metal Plate Electrodes

Think of the
(historic) construction
of
2. Suction Electrodes
electrosurgical
(historic interest) electrode
3. Floating Electrodes And, how does
4. Flexible Electrodes electro-
surgery work?
3 v 1.2
 Commonly Used Biopotential
Electrodes
Metal plate electrodes
– Large surface: Ancient,
therefore still used, ECG
– Metal disk with stainless steel;
platinum or gold coated
– EMG, EEG
– smaller diameters
– motion artifacts
– Disposable foam-pad: Cheap!

(a) Metal-plate electrode used for application to limbs.

(b) Metal-disk electrode applied with surgical tape.
(c)Disposable foam-pad electrodes, often used with ECG
4
 Commonly Used Biopotential
Electrodes
Suction electrodes
- No straps or adhesives required
- precordial (chest) ECG
- can only be used for short periods

Floating electrodes
- metal disk is recessed
- swimming in the electrolyte gel
- not in contact with the skin
- reduces motion artifact

Suction Electrode
5 v 1.2
 Commonly Used Biopotential
Electrodes Insulating
Metal disk

package

Double-sided
Adhesive-tape
ring Electrolyte gel
in recess
(a) (b) Reusable
Snap coated with Ag-AgCl External snap
Gel-coated sponge
Plastic cup Plastic disk Disposable

Tack Dead cellular material

Foam pad
Capillary loopsGerminating layer
(c)

6 Floating
v 1.2
Electrodes
 Commonly Used Biopotential
Electrodes

Flexible electrodes
- Body contours are often irregular
- Regularly shaped rigid electrodes
may not always work.
- Special case : infants
- Material :
- Polymer or nylon with silver
- Carbon filled silicon rubber
(Mylar film)

(a) Carbon-filled silicone rubber

electrode.
(b) Flexible thin-film neonatal
electrode.
7 v 1.2
(c) Cross-sectional view of the thin-
 Internal Electrodes
Needle and wire electrodes for
percutaneous measurement of
biopotentials

(a) Insulated needle

electrode.
(b) Coaxial needle electrode.
(c) Bipolar coaxial electrode.
(d) Fine-wire electrode
connected to hypodermic
needle, before being
inserted.
(e) Cross-sectional view of
skin and muscle, showing
coiled fine-wire electrode in
place.
8 v 1.2
 Fetal ECG Electrodes

Electrodes for detecting fetal electrocardiogram during labor, by means

of intracutaneous needles (a) Suction electrode. (b) Cross-sectional view

of suction electrode in place, showing penetration of probe through
epidermis. (c) Helical electrode, which is attached to fetal skin by
9
corkscrew type action. v 1.2
 IMPANTABLE ELECTRODES

10 v 1.2
 Electrode Arrays
Insulated leads
Ag/AgCl electrodes Contacts
Contacts
Ag/AgCl electrodes

Insulated leads Base

(a)

Exposed tip Tines Base

(b)

Examples of microfabricated electrode

arrays.
(a) One-dimensional plunge electrode
array,
Base (b) Two-dimensional array, and
(c) Three-dimensional array
(c)
11 v 1.2
 Microelectrodes

Why
Measure potential difference across cell membrane
Requirements
– Small enough to be placed into cell Intracellular

– Strong enough to penetrate cell membrane Extracellular

– Typical tip diameter: 0.05 – 10 microns

Types
– Solid metal -> Tungsten microelectrodes
– Supported metal (metal contained within/outside glass
needle)
– Glass micropipette -> with Ag-AgCl electrode metal
12 v 1.2
 Metal Microelectrodes

Microns!

Extracellular recording – typically in brain where you are

interested in recording the firing of neurons (spikes).

Use metal electrode+insulation -> goes to high impedance

amplifier…negative capacitance amplifier!

13 v 1.2
 Metal Supported Microelectrodes

(a) Metal inside glass (b) Glass inside metal

14 v 1.2
 Ag-AgCl
wire+3M KCl has
Glass Micropipette very low
junction
heat potential and
hence very
pull accurate for dc
measurements
(e.g. action
potential)
A glass micropipet electrode
filled with an electrolytic
solution
(a) Section of fine-bore glass
capillary.
(b) Capillary narrowed through
Fill with heating and stretching.
intracellular (c) Final structure of glass-
fluid or 3M KCl
pipet microelectrode.
Intracellular recording – typically for recording from cells, such as cardiac
myocyte
Need high impedance amplifier…negative capacitance amplifier!
15 v 1.2
 Electrical Properties of Microelectrodes

Metal Microelectrode

Metal microelectrode with tip

placed within cell
16 Use metal electrode+insulation -> goes to high Equivalent circuits
impedance amplifier…negative capacitance amplifier!
 Electrical Properties of Glass
Intracellular Microelectrodes
Glass Micropipette Microelectrode

17
 Microelectrode Electrical Model

A B
Cell Shaft
Insulation
membrane Metal rod Submerged
shaft
N = Nucleus Tissue fluid
+ +
C = Cytoplasm
Membrane N = Nucleus
Tissue
+ - - - fluid
+ - + potential C = Cytoplasm +
C + - + Shank in
+ - -
- + - -- + tissue flu
+ - - + + -
N -
- ++ + -
+ - C
- - - + + -
+ - - - - - -- +
+ + Shank Electrode tip
+ + + + + inside cell inside cell

Electrode with tip placed

Shank Capacitance:
within a cell, showing origin
of distributed capacitance Cd1 2r0 er, e0 = dielectric const.
 D = avg. diameter of shank
L ln(D /d) d = dia. of electrode
t = thickness of
Submerged Shaft insulation layer
Capacitance: L = length of shank &
shaft, respectively
 Cd 2 r0d
18

L
v 1.2
t
 Microelectrode Electrical Model
Electrode R A
Lead wire C
resistance s To amplifier
capacitance w
Equivalent circuit B
Cd2 Shaft
capacitance

Metal- Rma Cma Cmb Rmb Reference

electrolyte Cd1 electrode
interface Cdi model
Ema Emb

Ri Emp Re Tissue fluid

Cytoplasm resistance
Cell
resistance
membrane Shank
Effective impedance 10 -100M ohm which is Rma capacitance
frequency dependent.
Simplified equivalent circuit
To lower it in higher frequncy - by A
increasing effective surface area
Cma
( application platinum black) Emp
Membrane
To lower it in low frequency – applying 0 and
action Cd + Cw
Ag/AgCl surface to electrode tip. potential

19 v 1.2 B
Ema - Emb
 Electrical Properties of Glass Intracellular
Microelectrodes
To amplifier
A B
Rt = electrolyte resistance in
Electrolyte shank & tip
in
Glass micropipet
Cd = capacitance from micropipet
Internal Stem electrolyte to environmental fluid
electrode
Ej = liquid-liquid junction
Environmental
fluid potential between micropipet
Taper electrolyte & intracellular fluid
Cd
Tip
Cell + + + Et = tip potential generated by
membrane + + - - - +
+- - - -
+ - N - + the thin glass membrane at
+ - - + Reference
+ -
Cytoplasm - + micropipet tip
N = Nucleus - + electrode
+- - - - - - -
+
+ + + + + Cell membrane Ri = intracellular fluid resistance

Emp = cell membrane potential

Electrode with its tip placed
within a cell, showing the origin Re = extracellular fluid
of distributed capacitance. resistance
20 v 1.2
 Glass Micropipet

A B Rt
Internal A
electrode
Membrane
Rma and
Cma 0
action Cd = Ct
potential
Emp
Ema Em
B
Reference
electrode
Rt Em = Ej + Et + Ema- Emb
Cd Cmb Rmb

Ej Simplified equivalent circuit.

Emb
Et

Rt = all the series resistance lumped

Ri Re
Emp together
(ranges from 1 to 100 MW)
Ct = total distributed capacitance lumped
Equivalent circuit.
together (total is tens of pF)
Em = all the dc potentials lumped together
21 v 1.2
Behaves like a low-pass filter.
 Stimulating Electrodes
Features

– Cannot be modeled as a series resistance and capacitance

(there is no single useful model)
– The body/electrode has a highly nonlinear response to
stimulation
– Large currents can cause
Platinum electrodes:
– Cavitation
Applications: neural stimulation
– Cell damage
– Heating
Modern day Pt-Ir and other
exotic metal combinations to
reduce polarization, improve
Types of stimulating electrodes conductance and long
1. Pacing life/biocompatibility
2. Ablation
3. Defibrillation Steel electrodes for pacemakers
and defibrillators
22 v 1.2
 Thank you

23 v 1.2