Stimulation circuitry for a multichannel potentiostat
View Patent ↗A stimulation circuitry for a multichannel potentiostat has individually controllable stimulation channels, and includes at least one circuit group. The circuit group includes: (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.
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.