Innovative approach for electrical characterisation of pseudo-resistors

Since the use of pseudo-resistors became popular in of bio-amplifiers research, several works have been published, but a lack of knowledge about accurate experimental characterisation and simulation of these non-linear devices remains. An innovative experimental procedure concerning the characterisation of pseudo-resistors is presented. The proposed experimental procedure proves the existence of a linear operation region, where the device can operate like a very high resistance, which is mainly applied on bio-amplifier designs. The main experimental results of the electrical characterisation of pseudo-resistors are described in detail and compared with the SPICE results. The pseudo-resistor experimental curve response including the non-linear operation region is presented. Finally, a new non-linear polynomial resistor model to use in SPICE simulator, replacing with success the electrical representation model based on transistors models is proposed. The presented simulations were performed with Mentor Graphics EldoTM SPICE simulator, using BSIM3V3.1 and PSP103.1 models. The MOSIS Educational Program fabricated the samples used in this work.