Stimulation circuitry for a multichannel potentiostat

1 . A stimulation circuitry for a multichannel potentiostat having individually controllable stimulation channels, comprising at least one circuit group, the circuit group comprising:

(i) a controllable current source;

(ii) a transient suppression module having an input resistively coupled to an output of the current source, the transient suppression module being a module for controllably suppressing a transient current with respect to an output of said transient suppression module;

(iii) a demultiplexer having an input resistively coupled to the output of the transient suppression module; and

(iv) a controller for selecting an output of the demultiplexer and for operating the transient suppression module with respect to said output selection.

2 . The stimulation circuitry according to claim 1 , wherein the transient suppression module comprises:

(ii′) a voltage buffer, and

(ii″) a switch having

an input resistively coupled to the output of the current source,

a first output resistively coupled to the voltage buffer, and

a second output resistively coupled to an input of the demultiplexer.

3 . The stimulation circuitry according to claim 2 , wherein the voltage buffer is a negative-feedback amplifier.

4 . The stimulation circuitry according to claim 1 , wherein the circuit group further comprises:

(v) a plurality of stimulation channels, each stimulation channel comprising:

(v′) a capacitor having a first terminal resistively coupled to an output of the demultiplexer, and

(v″) a working electrode connector resistively coupled to the capacitor's first terminal.

5 . The stimulation circuitry according to claim 4 , wherein the working electrode connector is resistively coupled to the first terminal through a switch.

6 . The stimulation circuitry according to claim 1 , wherein the current source comprises a modified Howland current pump.

7 . A multichannel potentiostat having individually controllable stimulation channels, comprising the stimulation circuitry according to claim 1 .

8 . The multichannel potentiostat according to claim 7 , further comprising a sensing circuitry.

9 . The multichannel potentiostat according to any of claim 8 , wherein the sensing circuitry comprises at least one circuit group, the circuit group comprising:

a first sensing path coupled to the input of the demultiplexer, and

a second sensing path comprising a multiplexer having a plurality of inputs resistively coupled to a working electrode connector each.

10 . The multichannel potentiostat according to claim 9 , comprising at least 25 stimulation channels.

11 . The multichannel potentiostat according to claim 7 , having stimulation channels and sensing channels, the number of stimulation channels being at least 30% of the number of sensing channels.

12 . A use of a multichannel potentiostat as defined in claim 7 for concurrently performing a plurality of electrochemical measurements in parallel for bioelectrochemical measurements.

13 . The multichannel potentiostat according to claim 7 , having stimulation channels and sensing channels, the number of stimulation channels being at least 40% of the number of sensing channels.

14 . The multichannel potentiostat according to claim 7 , having stimulation channels and sensing channels, the number of stimulation channels being at least 50% of the number of sensing channels.

15 . A method for operating a stimulation circuitry as defined in claim 1 , comprising using the controller to select an output of the demultiplexer while suppressing a transient current with respect to the output of the transient suppression module.

16 . A method for operating a multichannel potentiostat having individually controllable stimulation channels, comprising the method according to claim 15 and further comprising:

(a) determining a potential of a sensing channel associated with a working electrode connector, and

(b) setting, in function of the determined potential, a stimulation current for achieving a predetermined target potential for a stimulation channel associated with the same working electrode connector.

17 . A use of a transient suppression module, being a module for controllably suppressing a transient current with respect to an output of said transient suppression module, for reducing a minimum current pulse time needed to achieve a predetermined delivered charge accuracy in a stimulation circuitry for a multichannel potentiostat.