High-throughput electrode arrays are required for advancing devices for testing the effect of drugs on cellular function. In this paper, we present design criteria for a potentiostat circuit that is capable of measuring transient amperometric oxidation currents at the surface of an electrode with submillisecond time resolution and picoampere current resolution. The potentiostat is a regulated cascode stage in which a high-gain amplifier maintains the electrode voltage through a negative feedback loop. The potentiostat uses a new shared amplifier structure in which all of the amplifiers in a given row of detectors share a common half circuit permitting us to use fewer transistors per detector. We also present measurements from a test chip that was fabricated in a 0.5-μm, 5-V CMOS process through MOSIS. Each detector occupied a layout area of 35μm × 15μm and contained eight transistors and a 50-fF integrating capacitor. The rms current noise at 2kHz bandwidth is ≈ 110fA. The maximum charge storage capacity at 2kHz is 1.26 × 10 6 electrons.

The release of neurotransmitters and hormones from secretory vesicles plays a fundamental role in the function of the nervous system including neuronal communication. High-throughput testing of drugs modulating transmitter release is becoming an increasingly important area in the fields of cell biology, neurobiology, and neurology. Carbon-fiber amperometry, provides high-resolution measurements of amount and time course of transmitter release from single vesicles, and their modulation by drugs and molecular manipulations. However, such methods do not allow the rapid collection of data from a large number of cells. To allow such testing, we have developed a CMOS potentiostat circuit that can be scaled to a large array. In this paper, we present two post-CMOS fabrication methods to incorporate the electrochemical electrode material. We demonstrate by proof of principle the feasibility of on-chip electrochemical measurements of dopamine, and catecholamine release from adrenal chromaffin cells. The measurement noise is consistent with the typical electrode noise in recordings with external amplifiers. The electronic noise of the potentiostat in recordings with 400 μs integration time is ~0.11 pA and is negligible compared to the inherent electrode noise.